Cadbury plc, the worldÔÇÖs second-largest confectionery maker, has almost tripled its net profits in the first half of this year, it announced yesterday.
The company, whose products include Dairy Milk, Trident gum and Halls lozenges, reported net profits of £313 million for the six months to the end of June, compared with £113 million for the same half last year.
Sales of chocolate, which grew by 13 per cent in the second quarter, up from seven per cent in the first quarter, accounted for 45 per cent of the companyÔÇÖs total first-half sales. Sales of gum and non-chocolate confectionery were up two per cent in the second quarter.
The companyÔÇÖs total revenues reached ┬ú2.8 billion.
Cadbury cited the growing popularity of its chocolate in emerging markets such as India and South Africa as a strong driver behind its impressive results.
The companyÔÇÖs performance was also aided by the demerger of its Americas Beverages unit in May last year, as well as the sale of its Australia Beverages business to Japanese beer maker Asahi Breweries in December.
Cadbury CEO Todd Stitzer said in a statement: ÔÇ£A strong chocolate performance and good growth in emerging markets more than offset a slow start in North America and continued softness in Europe.
ÔÇ£At the same time, we significantly improved our trading margin whilst maintaining our investment in marketing and product innovation.ÔÇØ
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