The Mondelez group (Lu, Oreo, Milka) ends the year 2023 without surprising the markets

The agri-food group Mondelez International (Lu and Oreo biscuits, Milka and Toblerone chocolates in particular) ended the year 2023 without surprising the markets, with results for the fourth quarter largely in line with the consensus. Over the last three months of the year, the group saw its sales reach $9.31 billion, up 7.1% compared to the same period in 2022, and perfectly in line with market forecasts.

On the other hand, it is doing slightly less well in terms of net profit, which does not exceed one billion dollars (950 million), whereas it was expected above (at 1.06 billion) and therefore also in terms of profit per share. share, which reached 70 cents, while the market was hoping for 78 cents. Results which did not particularly please the market: if the Mondelez title ended the session on Wall Street up 0.82% to 76.34 dollars, it fell in electronic exchanges after the closing by 2.02% at $74.80, at 11:45 p.m. GMT.

“We achieved double-digit growth in revenue and profit which enabled us to generate significant cash flow and return on investment for our shareholders. Our growth was balanced between developed and emerging markets, representing a solid performance in all regions,” nevertheless welcomed the group's CEO, Dirk Van de Put, quoted in the press release. Over the entire year, Mondelez achieved growth of 14.4% in sales, which enabled it to generate a net profit of $4.959 billion, or $3.62 per share.

Growth was particularly marked, over the whole year, in Latin America, with an increase of 37.9%, and in North America (14.4%) but a little weaker in Europe (12. 6%) and especially in Asia (4.6%). Over the last quarter, the group's sales even marked a slight decline (1.1%) on the North American market.

Mondelez has been criticized regularly during the year in Europe, particularly singled out in Scandinavia, where it was the subject of a call for a boycott last June, because of its presence in Russia, but also accused more recently in France for having carried out price increases considered unjustified, in a context of high inflation of food products. For the year 2024, Mondelez is being relatively cautious with expected growth in its turnover of 3 to 5% and “single digit” for its net profit per adjusted share, on a like-for-like basis and excluding exceptional items.