Buoyant sales for Danone

FRANCE – While many dairy companies struggled in the first half of 2003, Danone has reported a strong third quarter, pushing its like for like sales growth up to 8% for the first nine months of 2003.

The group’s total sales grew by 9.4% when compared to the third quarter of 2002, with its fresh dairy products sector recording 10.2% growth.

Many European companies have blamed poor results in 2003 on the strength of the euro and this also affected Danone, with the company reporting that exchange rates had a negative impact of 7.4% for the first nine months.