Mondelēz International projects growth despite challenging quarter
Global confectionery and snacks group Mondelēz International has remained confident of its outlook for 2019 with a number of major initiatives, despite noting challenging trading conditions with its latest quarter financial results.
Figures for the first three months of 2019 showed a 3.4% year-on-year dip in net revenues, to $6.53 billion, which were attributed to unfavourable currency exchanges.
However, Chairman and CEO Dirk Van de Put said there were encouraging signs for the business with its renewed consumer focus and positive results in emerging markets amid a wider restructuring operations.
Mondelēz has brought forward a number of significant initiatives including a focus on sustainable snacking that aims to accelerate the company’s sustainable cocoa sourcing commitment to cover 100% of chocolate globally by 2025, from its present level of over 40% today.
As the company explained, its key international brands and local favourites including Toblerone and Lacta will join Milka, Côte d’Or and Cadbury Dairy Milk in being exclusively delivered as part of the firm’s existing Cocoa Life initiative. Consequently, the company said there would be an increase in the number of farmers and communities it supports across six cocoa origin countries: Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Indonesia, Dominican Republic, India and Brazil.
Another significant snacking initiative came with launching Chocobakery in India, under the Cadbury and Oreo brands, with a further Oreo campaign considered a success within the company’s Chinese markets. As previously reported by Confectionery Production, the business has also undertaken an scheme with Israeli-based business incubator, The Kitchen, which aims to support emerging snacks businesses in the country.
In its outlook for the remainder of 2019, the business has projected organic net revenue growth of between two and three percent, continuing a trend that saw net organic growth of 3.7% for the first quarter of the year.
“Our strong start to the year demonstrates clear progress against our plans to accelerate volume-led growth by adopting a more consumer-centric and agile mindset,” said Dirk Van de Put, Chairman and CEO. “We continue to see solid fundamentals in our categories and key markets, including good momentum in emerging markets. Our progress reinforces our confidence that the investments we are making behind our global and local brands, our sales capabilities and our innovation will deliver sustainable long-term growth and create value for our shareholders.”
Speaking recently on the company’s Cocoa Life scheme, the CEO added: “Our Purpose at Mondelēz International is to empower people to snack right and that journey begins with the ingredients we source, including cocoa. As demand for chocolate continues to grow, we are leading the transformation to build a thriving cocoa sector, an ingredient essential to our growth. This is an important milestone for our Cocoa Life program and will ensure more consumers around the world can be confident that the chocolate brands they love are made the right way.”
