Swiss chocolate maker Lindt & Sprüngli on Tuesday raised its targets for 2021 after seeing its sales and profits recover in the first half of the year after the shock of the health crisis last year, thanks in particular to a rebound in sales at Easter.
Its net profit more than quintupled from the first half of last year, rising to 101.6 million Swiss francs, while its revenue increased by 17.2% to 1, 8 billion francs, he said in a statement.
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Excluding currency effects, its organic growth reached 17.4%, said the Zurich group.
These figures exceed the forecasts of analysts polled by the Swiss agency AWP, who on average expected a rebound to 59.5 million francs in profit and 1.6 billion in turnover.
The rebound of the chocolate market
The group, which had already said at the start of the year to expect above-average growth in 2021 with the rebound in the chocolate market, has further raised its objectives, now forecasting double-digit growth, towards "
the bottom
" of its organic sales for the whole year, ie above 10%. The group known for its golden Easter bunnies also confirmed their medium to long-term goals, then aiming for a return to growth in the order of 5 to 7%.
Last year, the group had seen its turnover decline 12.7% in the first half and its profit plummet by 77.6%, weighed down by its fixed costs.
In the first six months of 2021, its sales rebounded by 16.4% in Europe, 18.8% in North America and 18% in the rest of the world thanks to a significant rebound in its sales at Easter which have exceeded its expectations, to the good performance of its Lindor brands of pralines and Excellence tablets, as well as to the growth of its online sales.
However, health restrictions continued to weigh on its network of shops and cafes as well as sales in duty-free shops at airports, still below their pre-pandemic levels.