Sweets and snacks powerhouse Mondelez International is benefitting from the uneven mix of pandemic restrictions in place around the world right now, as sales of home comfort foods remain strong even while on-the-go purchases pick back up.
"We're seeing improviing mobility trends in many places, helping to drive recoveries in areas, such as world travel retail and gum & candy, that were negatively impacted last year," CEO Dirk Van de Put said on an earnings call. "We also see continued strong demand for the categories and channels that experienced elevated demand last year, due to Covid."
Van de Put said higher levels of working from home and online shopping seem to be here to stay. Coupled with returning normalcy in some markets, this translates to sustained growth in all the companies core categories, he said on the call.
For the second quarter, the company reported a 12.4% net revenue increase (to $6.64 billion) on 6.2% growth in organic net revenue. The company raised its forecast for full-year organic net revenue growth to above 4%, versus a prior estimate of around 3%.
The company's emerging-markets segment brought in $2.29 billion in the quarter, up 20% from the prior year.
Van de Put said the company continues to place effort on expanding its retail presence in key APAC markets, adding 60,000 stores across China in India during the quarter. Mondelez is also ramping up capacity in emerging markets, but doing so by adding production lines rather than opening new factories.
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