MILAN — Barry Callebaut, the world’s leading manufacturer of high-quality chocolate and cocoa products, announced that today Moody’s Investor Service, one of the most important providers of credit ratings, assigned a long-term issuer rating of Baa3 to Barry Callebaut AG, up from Ba1.
At the same time, all senior unsecured ratings assigned to the bonds issued by Barry Callebaut Services N.V. have also been upgraded to Baa3 from Ba1. The outlook on all rating is stable.
According to Moody’s, the upgrade reflects the improvements in Barry Callebaut’s operating performance over the last few quarters, Moody’s expectations that its credit metrics will continue to strengthen over the next 12-18 months thanks to a combination of stronger earnings and free cash flow generation and that Barry Callebaut will pursue prudent financial policies.
Remco Steenbergen, Chief Financial Officer of Barry Callebaut, said: ‘Returning to investment grade status has been an important objective for our company. During the past years, we put consistent focus on strengthening our balance sheet and financial metrics. Moody’s upgrade is a well-appreciated recognition for our efforts.’
