Danone Waters has reported an increase in third-quarter sales and confirmed its full-year growth targets.
For the three months to the end of September, Danone saw its water sales climb by 3.8% to EUR816m (US$1.12bn) and 7.9% on an organic basis, the bottled water producer said today (18 October). A 4.9% rise in volumes was driven by double-digit growth and increased market share in Latin America and Asia.
This was a slowdown, however, from the division’s 18.9% sales growth in the second quarter and reflected poor weather in Western Europe over the summer period, the company said.
Nine-month sales in the waters division, which owns the Volvic and Evian brands, rose by 11.2% to EUR2.23bn.
Total group sales, meanwhile, rose by 10.5% to EUR4.81bn in the quarter and 5.9% on an organic basis. Volumes grew by 1.5%. For the nine-month period, sales increased by 14.3% to EUR14.53bn.
Reports this morning have suggested that Danone is in talks with Suntory Holdings over the potential sale of its bottled water unit.
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By GlobalData“Danone is in very good shape, with operations in Asia, Latin America, and Africa/Middle East continuing to post robust growth,” said Danone’s chairman & CEO, Franck Riboud. “In Russia and the US, we are working to strengthen our leading position, and our performance in Western Europe remains good.”
For the 2011 year, Danone confirmed its target of a 6% to 8% increase in like-for-like sales, and a 0.2% increase in operating margins.
Click here to view the full earnings release.
