Mondelez up 4% as CFO thinks investors will be ‘pleased’ with Q3 results

Luca Zaramella, Mondelez International Chief Financial Officer, said earlier during a presentation at Barclays’ Global Consumer Staples Conference, according to a transcript of the event: “So I think when you look at the first half, the total top-line growth was around about 3.5% with volume down about 2%. Two key items in there that drove the volume decline year on year, and it is the European disruption and the EMEA boycott. And I think we are in a good place in terms of having implemented pricing now, particularly in Europe. Disruption is behind us. And so as you look at the second half, there are pretty much three key drivers that will drive the improved performance. The disruption in Europe being behind us, and happy to report after having seen now July and August, that numbers are quite good in Europe to testify the great job done by the European team, getting back on track, and loading up promotions for back-to-school consumption is coming. And so I think Europe is really setting the stage for an improved and accelerated top-line growth in the second half. The second one is a recovery from the US market softness that we saw in the first half, both in terms of market, but also in terms of share. We talked extensively about all the actions we are taking. The most recent numbers in terms of category and share performance are quite good, I would say, and encouraging. I think you all saw maybe the Oreo Coke promotion. That is not the market yet. It will come in its full effect in September and so we are fairly positive about the US too. And the second thing — the third thing that I mentioned before in the earnings is the fact that Q4 last year specifically, we had some one-time impact, particularly around the give-and-go business, where we sell these kits that are quite heavy, Gingerbread type of kits that people used to make houses, et cetera, small houses. Those kits, we had to restage the business for profitability reasons and so we discontinued some of the product lines. And now obviously that is in the base. So we feel quite good about the second half. And as I said, both July and August were solid numbers and I think you will be pleased with the numbers you’re going to see in Q3. So we feel quite good. In terms of profitability, I think you saw the material profit increases that we had year on year. Now, part of it is clearly driven by the favorability related to how we procure cocoa in the first part of the year. But on the other side, that gives us a little bit more flexibility to activate promotions where we see some consumer softness.” In afternoon trading, shares of Mondelez are up $2.95, or 4%, to $75.20.