KILCHBERG, Switzerland – The Lindt & Sprüngli Group had once again a successful first half of the year in 2024, increasing sales by +7.0% to CHF 2.16 billion in organic terms. This increase was supported by mid-single-digit price increases in the first half of the year to offset higher cocoa prices, as well as solid volume/mix growth of +0.9%.
The Group is confident that it will reach the objectives announced for the full year 2024, with sales growth in the range of 6–8% and an EBIT margin increase expected at the upper end of the 20–40 basis points range.
The EBIT margin increased to 13.5% (previous year 12.2%), with an EBIT of CHF 292.3 million. This improvement was mainly driven by efficiency gains and price increases, compensating for higher cocoa material costs. A legal dispute in North America was resolved and had a positive one-time impact on other income.
Net income totaled CHF 218.0 million in the first half. Free cash flow reached CHF 70.4 million (previous year: CHF 137.3 million) with a margin of 3.3% (previous year: 6.6%). Cash flow was impacted by increased capital expenditure for capacity expansion projects to satisfy future volume growth.
The balance sheet total increased to CHF 7.94 billion as of June 30, 2024 (December 31, 2023: CHF 7.86 billion). The equity ratio slightly increased to 54.6% (December 31, 2023: 54.2%).
Lindt & Sprüngli Group: All regional segments show positive growth
The “Europe” segment increased sales organically by a strong +9.3% to CHF 1.07 billion in the first half. Growth was most pronounced in France, the United Kingdom, and Central and Eastern Europe, with double-digit growth. Italy, Germany, and Switzerland continued to show solid growth.
The “North America” segment showed organic sales growth of +3.0% to CHF 794.6 million. Lindt & Sprüngli USA, Ghirardelli, and Lindt & Sprüngli Canada outperformed the market, gaining market share. However, this positive performance in the market is only partly reflected in our sales figures due to the shift of Easter orders into 2023 reflecting the earlier Easter date in 2024, and destocking by our major retail customers.
Excluding those temporary effects, organic growth in North America would have been around +6% in the first six months of the year. The North American segment is expected to accelerate growth in the second half of the year (compared to the +3.0% in the first half).
The “Rest of the World” segment achieved strong organic sales growth of +10.0% to CHF 293.2 million. Notably, the subsidiaries in Japan and Brazil achieved double-digit growth rates in the first half of the year.
