Danone boosts Russia revenue in Q1 amid declining volumes
MOSCOW. April 15 (Interfax) - French Danone said first quarter sales in Russia were "solid in an uncertain consumer environment, in which the division is closely guiding trends in its various product ranges," the French dairy products group said in a press release on Wednesday.
In Russia, "an enhanced portfolio value has thus continued to drive growth, while sales volumes kept declining," Danone said.
Like-for-like sales in the CIS increased 2.8% in Q1 2015. Overall like-for-like sales volume edged down 0.2%.
Danone had said earlier that sales in Russia in Q4 2014 declined significantly on weak consumer demand. Low-value added products led the decline.
It was reported earlier that Danone plans to invest $700 million in its Russia operations in 2012-2017.
Revenue at Danone Industriya LLC rose 4.5% to 35.04 billion rubles in 2013 from 33.53 billion rubles in 2012, according to the SPARK-Interfax database. Gross profit declined to 15.7 billion rubles from 16.1 billion rubles and net profit was down 1.2% to 1.508 billion rubles from 1.527 billion rubles. Danone's second asset in Russia, CJSC Danone-Volga (Togliatti, Samara region), increased revenue to 1.668 billion rubles in 2013 from 1.534 billion rubles in 2012.