Danone said it expects to take a 100-million-euro hit in first-quarter sales from the coronavirus outbreak, particularly in China, its second-largest market.
"The company currently estimates... around 100 million euros lost sales," mostly in its waters business in China, said Danone, whose brands include Evian and Volvic.
That meant overall sales in the first three months of the year were expected to be"broadly flat," compared to the 6.1 billion euros it booked in the first quarter of 2019, it said in a statement. "Danone assumes that economic conditions in 2020 will remain particularly volatile and uncertain overall... with additional pressure on the world economy since the beginning of the year related to theEarnings per share growth was expected to be"mid-single-digit" or around five percent,"reflecting sales growth of 2.0-4.
Danone said that business last year had been"strong", with group sales growing 2.6 percent to 25.3 billion euros. Underlying or operating profit grew 18.1 percent to 3.2 billion euros, although bottom-line profit fell 18 percent to 1.9 billion as a result of one-off charges.
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