Zurich, Oct 29 - Switzerland's Lindt & Spruengli will struggle to meet its operating target for 2010 if cocoa prices stay at current high levels, the group's chief financial officer told Reuters on Thursday.
"If cocoa prices stay at this level, it will be very difficult to meet our 2010 EBIT goal," CFO Dieter Weisskopf said at the group's headquarters outside Zurich after it said world No.1 tennis player Roger Federer would promote its brand.
The group, known for its gold-wrapped Easter bunnies, was aiming for earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of 360 million Swiss francs ($351.2 million) in 2010.
Chocolate makers are currently grappling with rocketing cocoa prices. Cocoa futures on ICE rose to the highest levels in about 30 years last week boosted by growing signs that demand is beginning to rebound after dipping earlier this year.
But Weisskopf said speculation was the main reason behind the soaring prices as many fund managers are selling commodities to customers who are looking to invest in assets that will protect them from inflationary risks.
"The first estimates for 2009/10 show that the demand and supply are pretty much in line," Weisskopf said. "There is no fundamental reason why cocoa prices should be so high."
Lindt set its 2010 EBIT goal when cocoa prices were at 1,600 pounds a tonne, but they have since risen to around 2,200 pounds per tonne.
Lindt's shares, which had been in positive territory before Weisskopf's comments, fell as much as 1.7 percent shortly afterwards and were 0.9 percent lower at 1607 GMT at 2,207 Swiss francs, underperforming a 1.6 percent rise in the Dow Jones Stoxx European food and beverage index.
MELTING DEMAND
Lindt has seen consumers' appetite for its luxury treats wane as they turned to cheaper alternatives in the recession, but Chief Executive Ernst Tanner told Reuters it would meet its 2009 sales growth goal of 2-5 percent.
The group, which traces its origins to a Zurich confectionary shop in the 1840s, is hoping sales growth will return to its long-term range of 6-8 percent by 2011 once the economy starts to recover.
In a move to boost its name in countries such as China, where Lindt and chocolate-eating is not yet very well established, the group said it would link the brand to a celebrity for the first time in its 164-year history.
"Federer symbolises the perfect match between the No.1 in premium chocolate and the No. 1 in the world of tennis," Tanner told reporters.
Tanner offered Federer a tour of the company's chocolate factory after he won the gold medal in the men's doubles at the Olympics in Beijing last August.
Federer said although his new role would boost his personal supply of chocolate, it was unlikely to have a negative impact on his game.
"Of course you always have to make sure you don't eat too much, but I play a type of sport that does not require me to restrict my diet too much. I have dessert two to three times a week," he said.