Chocs, gum and cough drops keep Cadbury sweet
1 min read
The confectionary market appears to be holding its own as consumers chew and chump their way through recession pushing sales of Cadbury’s chocolate, gum and candy up at home and abroad.
Publishing its 2008 results today (25 February), the company that offloaded its beverages business in May last year said it remained in growth mode.
Overall, Cadbury reported revenue up 7% with strong growth across emerging markets and its focus brands.
Highlights included good growth across all categories with chocolate sales up 6%, gum up 10% and candy up 6%. Emerging markets business was 12% up and so-called focus brands saw an 8% rise with Dairy Milk chocolate up 11%, Trident chewing gum up 11%, and Halls cough drops up 9%.
CEO Todd Stitzer (pictured) said: “In 2008, Cadbury completed its transformation into a pure-play confectionery company. Our strong revenue growth and significant improvement in operating margin demonstrate the relative resilience of our focused business model. Whilst we will not be immune from the continued weak economic environment, at this early stage in 2009, we expect to deliver revenue growth around the lower end of our 4-6% goal range and to make good progress toward our goal of mid-teens margins by 2011.”
The 2008 numbers showed revenue up 15% to £5.4 billion (2007: £4.7bn) while underlying pre-tax profits on a reported basis were 30% up at £559 million (£430m).
