Mondelez International scaling back capital investments, advertising spending in Russia

MOSCOW. March 10 (Interfax) - U.S. company Mondelez International Inc., one of the largest global producers of snacks and confections, is scaling back capital investments and spending on advertising in Russia, Mondelez International CEO Dirk Van de Put said in a letter published on the company's website.

"As a food company, we are scaling back all non-essential activities in Russia while helping maintain continuity of the food supply [...]. We will focus our operation on basic offerings, discontinue all new capital investments, and suspend our advertising media spending," the letter says.

The company will continue to assess the situation and make adjustments as necessary, it says.

Mondelez International operates in more than 150 countries and has been in Russia for over 20 years. It has three factories in the Vladimir and Novgorod regions. The company also owns brands such as Oreo, Alpen Gold, Cadbury, Milka, Toblerone, Barny, Halls, and others.

Mondelez International subsidiary LLC Mondelez Rus boosted revenue 10.7% to 59.44 billion rubles in 2020. Net profit rose 13.2% to 6.12 billion rubles. Mondelez Rus directed to dividends and other profit distribution payments to owners 6.12 billion rubles in 2020 and 1.89 billion rubles in 2019. The company said in a financial report that it paid dividends of 3.91 billion rubles in January 2021.