Parmalat sees profit up, sales down

ITALY – Italian dairy giant Parmalat has announced its results for 2001, with net profit up 12.2% to 218.5 million euro on 2000 despite slowing sales.

The company said that profit was limited in 2001 by economic turmoil in Latin America, especially Argentina. South America accounted for 24.7% of revenue in 2001, down from 27.2% in 2000.

Parmalat said that currency fluctuations in 2002 would affect the results but that sales so far are “substantially in line” with targets.