Danone raises 2022 guidance, expects 7-8% sales growth led by pricing

Danone has posted Q3 net sales of €7.33 billion – up by 9.5% on a like-for-like (LFL) basis – after seeing “sequential growth acceleration across all categories and geographies”.

Price increases contributed 10.9% to revenue growth.

The owner of Evian and Bonafont recorded sales of €1.34 billion for its Waters business (+14.4% LFL), with volume/mix growth of 4.4%.

Danone’s Specialized Nutrition business led LFL sales growth in China and Europe. Overall, the unit recorded €2.13 billion in third-quarter sales – up by 12.2% on an LFL basis.

The French group’s Essential Dairy and Plant-based business saw LFL sales growth of 6.3% but recorded a decrease of 6% in volume/mix.

On a reported basis, Q3 sales increased by 19.1%, reflecting in particular the appreciation of the US dollar and various Asian and Latin American currencies against the euro.

Danone raised its LFL sales forecast and said that it now expects “price-led” growth of 7-8% for 2022.

CEO Antoine de Saint-Affrique commented: “We continue to implement pricing actions in a responsible and disciplined manner, while focusing on the quality of our execution and reinvesting behind our brands and capabilities. This shows in the performance of our Specialized Nutrition business, led by Aptamil, in Waters, where our Evian, Bonafont and Aqua brands continue to perform strongly in the marketplace, but also in Essential Dairy and Plant-based, with the resilience of [the] portfolio, notably in the US, Canada and Japan.”

He added: “We continue to display consistent progress in all aspects of our ‘Renew’ agenda, with active portfolio management and a disciplined approach to boosting our winners, fixing our underperformers and driving our core”.