Financial Results

Ferrero Group reports 1.5% revenue increase in fiscal 2017 driven by Nutella, Ferrero Rocher, Tic Tac and Kinder

By Douglas Yu

- Last updated on GMT

Ferrero has actively expanded its US business recently. Pic: SALoOm
Ferrero has actively expanded its US business recently. Pic: SALoOm
Ferrero Group has closed its fiscal year 2017 with a consolidated turnover of €10.5bn ($12.96bn), an increase of 1.5% compared to the previous year at €10.3bn ($12.72bn).

The Italian confectionery giant said the sales of its finished products increased by 2.2% during the period driven by European markets, such as Germany, Poland, UK and Eastern European countries.

While the company’s sales in Italy and France remained flat, higher increases in net sales were recorded in the US, Canada and Mexico, according to Ferrero.

“The products that contributed the most to the net sales of finished products were mainly Nutella, Ferrero Rocher, Kinder Surprise, Kinder Joy, Kinder Bueno and Tic Tac,”​ it said.

Ferrero has actively been pursuing US expansion recently: it completed acquisition of Chicago-based premium chocolate Fannie May Confections Brands​ from 1-800-Flowers.com for $115m about a year ago. A few months later, it acquired US gummy maker Ferrara Candy Company​ from L Catterton.

Most recently, the company swallowed Nestlé’s US candy business​ for $2.8bn, making it one of the largest chocolate makers in the world, ConfectioneryNews previously reported. However, it is still in the processing of positioning Nestlé’s brands​ within its portfolio.

Investment in factory and technological expansion

Ferrero said it would continue to invest in “improving and expanding its factories and equipment”​ in line with its corporate strategies.

“Key corporate strategies led to ongoing improvements in the quality and competitiveness of the product portfolio, while [ensuring] product freshness, food safety and the environment,”​ the company explained.

Additionally, Ferrero invested €774m ($958m) in technological development in fiscal year 2017, compared to €631m ($781m) in the prior year, it noted.

The investment has helped the company expand its production capacity, said Ferrero.

“On the total amount of capital investments, the most significant part was focused on property, plant and equipment ($817m compared to $683m in the previous year) mainly in Italy, Germany, Poland, Canada and Luxembourg,”​ added the company.

In 2018, Ferrero said it would also invest further in its core brands and strengthen its internal R&D activities.

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1 comment

impressive but....

Posted by Cocoda,

Interesting to note the key driver to this growth came from existing and recognised Ferrero brands.

To think that they (over?) paid £112M for Thornton's almost 3 years ago yet the brand remains in appalling shape.

Sure, there's been some minor changes to the styling, but overall Thorngton's looks to be in as poor shape today as it did when Ferrero bought it in June 2015. The sales to all channels has driven the brand's position downwards, the products are cheap and nasty and the stores look as shoddy and unappealing as they have done for the last 10-15 years.

Did Ferrero ever know what they planned to do with Thornton's? It doesn't appear so and they need to either implement a drastic plan (badly needed), or dispose of it altogether.

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