Danone 1st Half Net Profit, Revenue Fell on Coronavirus Hit -- Update

--Danone first-half net profit and revenue fell

--Company said second quarter was most challenging of year

--Sees continued uncertainty in the second half

By Matteo Castia

Danone SA reported on Thursday a slight fall in first-half net profit as the coronavirus hurt revenue and said it expects results to improve although uncertainty persists for the second half.

The French food company made a net profit of 1.02 billion euros ($1.20 billion) for the six months compared with EUR1.04 billion for the year-earlier period.

Revenue fell to EUR12.19 billion from EUR12.65 billion the previous year. In the second quarter, revenue decreased 8.3% to EUR5.95 billion.

"After a strong momentum in the first quarter with sales up 3.7%, sales decreased by 5.7% in the second quarter on a like-for-like basis, hit by the expansion of the Covid-19 pandemic into new regions, most notably Latin America," Danone said.

First-half recurring operating income came in at EUR1.70 billion, down from EUR1.86 billion the prior year.

The company defines recurring operating income as operating income excluding other operating income and expenses. Other operating income and expenses comprise items that, because of their exceptional nature, cannot be viewed as inherent to recurring activity.

"The second quarter was the most challenging quarter of the year and the back half of the year will show a sequential improvement in growth," Chief Executive Emmanuel Faber said.

Write to Matteo Castia at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 30, 2020 02:18 ET (06:18 GMT)

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