Lindt benefits from UK taste for posh choc
SWISS luxury chocolate maker Lindt & Sprungli enjoyed sales growth of more than eight per cent last year.
The bean-to-bar chocolate manufacturer, famous for its Lindt bunnies and Lindor truffles, said increased production and its new Hello brand had boosted annual turnover to SFr2.88bn (£1.9bn).
Lindt’s UK and North America businesses both grew sales in double digits last year.
Carl Short, S&P Capital IQ equity analyst, called the growth a “surprising success”, considering that firms like Danone, Unilever and Nestle have seen only mid-digit to single-digit growth.
“In Europe and north America, the consumer has been under pressure for a while now,” he said.
“People have reverted to thrifty and frugal behaviour in their normal shop and I think that’s been indicated by the successes of Aldi and Lidl, but at the same time they’re going to treat themselves now and again.”