Danone launches full portfolio review to plan for new COVID-world
French dairy giant Danone has this morning announced its intention to conduct a full portfolio review and put assets worth €500m up for immediate sale to tailor its business for a post-coronavirus market.
Danone will conduct a full strategic review of its portfolio of brands, SKUs and assets with the aim of shaping its portfolio to hit its 3-5% growth target.
It will start with a review of assets where performance is falling short of its profitable growth targets.
This includes, as an immediate step, the potential sales of its Argentinian platform and Vega brand, representing together around €500m net sales. It said other assets will be reviewed at a later stage.
The review comes as Danone posted third-quarter net sales of €5.8bn, which were down by 2.5% on a like-for-like basis and by 9.3% on a reported basis.
Danone said recurring operating margin is expected to remain impacted in the second half by COVID-19-related extra-costs and negative mix, but efficiency, cost control and tight cash management actions are in place to target for it to restore guidance of 14% recurring operating margin and the delivery of €1.8bn free cash flow.
Source: https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/finance/city-snapshot-danone-launches-full-portfolio-review-to-plan-for-new-covid-world/649483.article