ZURICH, Switzerland — Barry Callebaut, the world’s leading manufacturer of high-quality chocolate and cocoa products, announced today that Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC (Standard & Poor’s), one of the most important providers of credit ratings, upgraded Barry Callebaut’s long-term issuer rating to investment grade BBB-, up from BB+.
At the same time, all senior unsecured ratings assigned to the bonds issued by Barry Callebaut Services N.V. have also been upgraded to BBB- from BB+. The outlook on all ratings is stable.
The upgrade of Barry Callebaut’s rating to investment grade comes after the recent upgrade by Moody’s of Barry Callebaut’s long-term issuer rating to investment grade.
Standard & Poor’s upgrade reflects the company’s improvements in operating performance in terms of profitability and cash flow generation.
The rating is also supported by the company’s ongoing growth momentum in emerging markets and above-industry-average volume growth in mature markets.
Remco Steenbergen, Chief Financial Officer of Barry Callebaut, said: “The upgrade by Standard & Poor’s is a clear recognition of our ‘smart growth’ strategy, which combines consistently good business growth with a focus on continuously improving the financial metrics.”
