Brand New: News from Mondelez, Kirin, Vitasoy and more big brand names feature in our round-up

Branded still better? Mondelez plays down private label threat citing ‘strong’ consumer confidence in Asia and Middle East​

Snacking giant Mondelez has highlighted continued strong demand for its snack brands such as Oreo and Cadbury in emerging markets as key to its Q3 profitability, playing down threats from cheaper supermarket private label products.

Mondelez recently announced its Q3FY2023 financial results, reporting net revenue growth of 16.3% year-on-year to US$9bn and gross profit growth of 20.1% year-on-year to US$3.5bn.

During a call with investors to report these results, Mondelez Chairman and CEO Dirk Van de Put told the floor that the firm’s well known snacking brands such as Oreo and Cadbury continued going strong despite an apparent increase in competition from supermarket private label products such as house brand chocolates or biscuits which are usually cheaper.

“Consumers continue to prefer our widely-loved brands over private label alternatives,”​ he said.

“This is particularly clear in emerging markets, where consumer confidence remains strong and we continue to see resilient underlying demand."​

‘Aggressive measures’: Kirin outlines plans for beer and sugar-free product innovation amid profits slump​

Beverage heavyweight Kirin Holdings has outlined plans to implement ‘aggressive measures’ across beer and sugar-free innovation, to recover from the negative impact of cost increases.

Kirin recently announced its Q3FY2023 financial results, reporting a 6.2% increase year-on-year in revenue to JPY1.55bn (US$10.5bn) and a 4.7% increase year-on-year in normalised operating profit to JPY141.5bn (US$959.2mn).

However, the company also simultaneously reported a decline of -30.3% year-on-year in profits before tax to JPY142.4bn (US$965.3mn), indicating that it is still significantly feeling the impacts of cost increases, despite having already utilised ‘aggressive marketing investments and price increase’ strategies.

In order to cope with these impacts and hopefully regain more consumer interest, Kirin Senior Executive Officer and General Manager of Corporate Strategy Hiroaki Takaoka said that the firm will be taking steps to improve its performance.

“From October and beyond, we will continue to take aggressive measures in each category to capture the changing demands of our consumers,”​ he told the floor when presenting the financial results.

Plant-based profits: Vitasoy looks to Asian growth to bounce back from challenges in Oceania​

Tofu and beverage brand Vitasoy hopes the performance of its soy milk and tea businesses in Asian will help it bounce back from manufacturing and logistical challenges faced in Oceania over the past six months.

Vitasoy recently announced its H2FY2023 financial results ending September 2023, reporting an overall -7% decrease year-on-year in revenue to HK$3.4bn (US$435.9mn) and -1% decrease in gross profits year-on-year to HK$1.7bn(US$217.9mn).

After factoring in the factors of currency exchange rates and COVID-19 related government subsidies, gross profits rose to a growth of 3% year-on-year, but revenue remained negative at -3%.

Some notable facts included that the announced profits to shareholders after considering these factors came in at a net rise of 99% or HK$163mn (US$20.9mn); and that the gross profits made up about 50.5% of overall revenue.

Beer boost: Asahi Super Dry drives international growth amid cost setbacks at new Japan brewery​

Asahi’s star-performing beer product Asahi Super Dry has helped to sustain the firm’s profitability and international growth even amid cost setbacks at its new domestic brewery in Tosu.

Asahi recently announced its FY2023 nine-month financial results ending September 2023, reporting 6.1% growth in revenue year-on-year to JPY2.02tn (US$13.3bn) and 8.6% growth in core operating profit year-on-year to JPY199.6bn (US$1.32bn).

A substantial part of this was attributed to pricing increases, according to Asahi President and CEO Atsushi Katsuki.

“The steady growth in our revenue and profit can be] mainly attributed to sustained unit sales price increases driven by price revisions and premiumisation,”​ he told investors at the firm’s most recent financial results briefing.

It’s a date: Agthia plans to strengthen digitalisation and snacking innovation amid strong nine-month performance​

Middle Eastern food and beverage heavyweight Agthia has pledged to focus more investment into the digitalisation of its business as well as the creation of new snacking innovations in order to sustain the positive growth and profitability seen in the first nine months of 2023.

Agthia recently released its financial results for the first nine months of FY2023 ending September 2023, reporting a leap of 10.9% growth year-on-year in net revenue to AED3.27bn (US$890.3mn) and 12.7% net profit growth year-on-year to AED206mn (US$56.1mn).

The firm highlighted that these results had already adjusted for the currency crisis in Egypt, where devaluation had an impact of –AED287.4mn (US$78.2mn) – otherwise net revenue and net profits would have grown by a whopping 20.7% and 27.3% respectively.

“Agthia’s snacking segment saw growth of 52.2% year-on-year in Q3 FY2023 which was driven by strong performance in both domestic and international date markets,”​ Agthia CEO Alan Smith stated whilst announcing the financial results.