By Giulia Petroni
Danone raised its full-year sales growth guidance after recording a sequential improvement in volume/mix in sales in the third quarter.
The French producer of yoghurts, bottled water and infant-nutrition products said Thursday that it now expects like-for-like sales growth between 6% and 7% in 2023 from previous expectations of between 4% and 6%.
It also said it expects to return to a positive volume/mix territory before the end of the year, and confirmed it sees a moderate improvement in the recurring operating margin.
In the third quarter, Danone posted sales of 6.91 billion euros ($7.30 billion), down from EUR7.33 billion in the year earlier, partly due to the depreciation of the majority of currencies against the euro. On a like-for-like basis, sales grew 6.2%, with volume/mix at minus 0.3% from minus 2.3% in the second quarter.
Analysts had forecast sales of EUR6.90 billion and like-for-like growth of 4.7%, according to a company-compiled consensus.
“This quarter is the seventh consecutive quarter of delivery,” said Chief Executive Antoine de Saint-Affrique. “We continue to view our future with confidence, despite a challenging environment.”
Write to Giulia Petroni at giulia.petroni@wsj.com
