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(Recasts, adds fresh CEO quote, updates share price)
By Silke Koltrowitz
ZURICH, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Barry Callebaut, which
makes chocolate and cocoa products for firms like Nestle
and Unilever, stuck to a sales volume growth
target of 4-6% over the next three years, counting on new
outsourcing deals to fuel growth.
Although global chocolate confectionery consumption is only
growing slowly, Barry Callebaut said its focus on outsourcing
contracts and emerging markets allow it to outperform the
market. A weakness in its business with chefs and artisans would
quickly be fixed, it added.
"Our business is extremely predictable in the medium term,
but there is quite a bit of variation from quarter to quarter,"
Chief Executive Antoine de Saint-Affrique told reporters on
Wednesday after volume growth slowed in the final quarter of the
group's fiscal year from the previous quarter.
This was partly due to scant development in its gourmet and
specialities business with pastry chefs and restaurants -
normally one of its growth drivers - but De Saint-Affrique said
this would be fixed in the second half of the current fiscal
year.
"We didn't renew two contracts that were not on the right
level of profitability and were too slow in renewing and
broadening our customer base," he said, adding he was confident
of returning the unit to mid- to high-single digit growth.
Barry Callebaut shares, which have risen 36% so far this
year, were down 3.6% at 1033 GMT partly due to the slowdown in
the final quarter.
Vontobel analyst Jean-Philippe Bertschy said the share price
had also risen so much that it may be hard to sustain the
current valuation even with the upbeat outlook.
De Saint-Affrique said the Zurich-based company, more than
50% in the hands of the billionaire Jacobs family, was also
working on a pipeline of outsourcing opportunities and could do
bolt-on acquisitions to boost business.
Overall sales volumes grew 5.1% to 2.14 million tonnes in
the 12 months to Aug. 31., while net profit rose 6.9% in local
currencies to 368.7 million Swiss francs ($371 million), the
maker of berry-flavoured "ruby" chocolate said in a statement,
proposing an 8% higher dividend of 26 francs per share.
Kepler Cheuvreux analyst Jon Cox said this was "a solid set
of figures with excellent free cash flow and a dividend ahead of
expectations".
($1 = 0.9927 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Silke Koltrowitz; Editing by Michael Shields,
Alexander Smith and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
