ITALY: Campari posts 37% rise in 2002 net profit

The Italian wine and spirits group, Campari, posted a net profit for 2002 of €86.7m (US$92.9m), representing a 36.7% rise from 2001 and ahead of analysts' forecasts.

The Multex Global Estimates consensus forecast had put Campari's 2002 net profit at €63m and Campari said that sales growth and tax incentives had helped it beat forecasts.

Group turnover, swelled by acquisitions, rose by 34% to €661m, while 2002 earnings before interest tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 39.7% to €160m. Operating profit was up 29.4% at €114.7m.

Campari reported that its international sales in 2002 exceeded its sales in Italy for the first time. The US was its second largest market, accounting for 30.3% of sales, with Italy accounting for 47%.

Campari's CEO, Marco Perelli Cippo, said he was forecasting a rise in turnover of between 9% and 10% for 2003 but anticipated a year of consolidation. "We are expecting revenue growth of 9% to 10%," Perelli Cippo said. "In 2003 we must consolidate our acquisitions and maintain the revenue levels and profitability of those acquisitions."

However, Perelli Cippo did not rule out further acquisitions if there were appropriate targets and the conditions were right. But the CEO added that the US-Iraq war introduced an uncertainty into forecasts which could not be accounted for. "No one can know what impact a war will have on consumer spending and business," he said. "It is a variable beyond control."