Mondelez, Ferrero among chocolate majors to post healthy top-line growth

Nestle India, which dominates the confectionery space with leading brands like Kitkat and Munch, continues to hold the third spot in revenue.

Buoyed by the sweet tooth of Indian consumers, leading chocolate makers — Mondelez, Ferrero, Mars and Hershey — have registered healthy sales growth in 2018-19.

However, two of these companies — Mars International India and Hershey India — still remain in the red.

Mondelez India Foods — the marketer of Cadbury — continued to lead the pack with Rs 6,746 crore revenue. According to filings at the Registrar of Companies, its top line grew 9 per cent year-on-year (YoY) from Rs 6,189 crore.

The firm’s net profit, during 2018-19, jumped 42 per cent to Rs 462 crore from Rs 325 crore.

Italian chocolate maker Ferrero, which markets Ferrero Rocher and spreads like Nutella, witnessed 13 per cent rise in its revenue at Rs 1,473 crore. After incurring losses in 2017-18, the firm turned profitable last year with a net profit of Rs 106 crore.

However, the other two major players – Mars International and Hershey – continued to bleed with losses mounting further. While Mars posted Rs 246 crore net loss, Hershey India’s net loss widened to Rs 109 crore in 2018-19.

In the previous financial year, the two firm’s had reported Rs 195 crore and Rs 85 crore net loss, respectively.

In fact, Hershey has been in loss at least since 2014-15, although its bottom line improved with yearly loss coming down from a peak of Rs 365 crore five years ago.

Mars, however, registered the biggest jump among the four, when it comes to increasing sales. The firm’s revenue rose 34.5 per cent YoY to Rs 1,009 crore from Rs 750 crore. Its sales numbers, however, include non-confectionery products under pet care brands like Pedigree, Whiskas and Royal Canin.

Business Standard