(Updated with rumors of Lactalis interest, comment from Danone CFO and stock price)
by Dominique Vidalon
PARIS, April 20 (Reuters) – French agribusiness leader Danone, which reports a first quarter above expectations, reiterated its 2022 targets on Wednesday and said it had no plans to sell its three branches. of activities in response to a rumor of interest from the Lactalis family group.
According to Letter A, the investment bank Perella Weinberg Partners, which advises Lactalis, one of the world leaders in the dairy industry, is considering scenarios for the partial or total takeover of Danone.
Letter A adds that the operation would however be complex insofar as Lactalis displays a turnover lower than that of Danone.
On the Paris Stock Exchange, the Danone title took advantage of this rumor of an interest from Lactalis and won 8.8353% at 57.28 euros at 12:12 p.m.
Asked about the information from Letter A, a spokesperson for Danone indicated that the group led by Antoine de Saint-Affrique had no plan to sell its three categories of assets: dairy and plant-based products. , waters and specialized nutrition.
Lactalis for its part refused to comment.
Investors also praised Danone’s performance in the first quarter, which came in above analysts’ expectations.
These figures reassured the market on the state of progress of the recovery plan that the managing director, Antoine de Saint-Affrique, launched in a context of rising input costs and uncertainties linked to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which forced Danone to suspend its investments in Russia.
Danone said its like-for-like sales rose 7.1% to 6.236 billion euros in the first three months of the year, while analysts expected a 5.5% increase, according to a consensus compiled by the company.
“This is an honorable start for the new “Renew Danone” strategy, underline RBC Europe analysts after a first quarter which they describe as “good quarter”.
The group further reiterated that it expects a trading operating margin above 12% this year, compared to 13.7% in 2021, with like-for-like revenue growth of between 3% and 5%. against 3.4% in 2021.
During a conference call with analysts, Juergen Esser, Danone’s chief financial officer, indicated that the group expected good sales momentum in the second quarter, but with more demanding comparables.
He also indicated that Danone was closely monitoring the confinements put in place by China to fight against the coronavirus pandemic, responsible for COVID-19.
Antoine de Saint-Affrique took control of Danone after Emmanuel Faber was ousted last year amid disagreements over strategy and pressure from activist funds. (Report Dominique Vidalon; French version Elena Vardon and Matthieu Protard, edited by Jean-Michel Bélot)