AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands – JDE Peet’s (EURONEXT: JDEP), the world’s largest pure-play coffee and tea group by revenue, announced that Fitch Ratings has assigned an investment grade rating (BBB-/Stable) to the company. This rating reinforces the commitment the company made since the IPO to become investment grade, and underscores its operating strength, strong financial discipline, and continued progress.
In its release about JDE Peet’s, Fitch noted: “The ‘BBB-‘ rating reflects the company’s strong market position in the global coffee industry, the ability to protect its performance from the price movements of raw coffee, as well as good scope for continued profit growth thanks to a well thought-out strategy relying on a wide breadth of successful technology, brands and products. This is reflected in a track record of continued volume/mix growth, very strong profitability and cash flow generation, which we view as sustainable.”
“We believe that JDE Peet’s has an investment grade profile, and today’s announcement affirms it,” said Scott Gray, CFO of JDE Peet’s.
“Our strong financial discipline and conservative capital allocation strategy are core focus areas for us and we are pleased that our progress in these areas continues to be recognised.”
Moving forward, JDE Peet’s will continue to reduce its leverage position in line with its commitment, while prioritising investments to support the continued growth of the business.
