Chiquita banana

Chiquita Brands International has reported on a strong second quarter (Q2) of 2009, with profit soaring on the corresponding period of 2008 to hit US$89m (€61.9m), or US$1.28 per diluted share, from US$58m (€40.3m) or US$1.21 per diluted share.

The result was achieved despite a fall in year-on-year quarterly sales, down 4 per cent to US$955m (€664m), a result of lower European exchange rates and previously implemented reductions in foodservice volumes in North American salads.

'Our second quarter results mark our best quarterly performance in the past decade and are testament to our strategic focus and our pricing and cost discipline,' said group chairman and CEO Fernando Aguirre. 'We are particularly pleased with our value-added salads business, which is showing significant and sustainable profit improvement.

'The plans we began executing several months ago to achieve network efficiencies and manufacturing cost reductions are working well,' he added. 'Additionally, our profit focus continues to deliver strong results in bananas which benefited from record high pricing in Europe and sustained pricing in North America.'

Operating income in the group's banana segment jumped to US$96m (€66.7m) during the three-month period, the group said, up from US$89m (€61.9m) last year, despite a 1 per cent drop in net sales to US$557m (€387m) as a result of lower European exchange rates. However, these rates were largely offset by record local banana pricing, Chiquita said.

In salads and healthy snacks, net sales dropped 13 per cent to US$305m (€212m), with operating income increasing to US$30m (€20.9m) from a loss of US$6m (€4.2m) during the corresponding period of 2008.

For other produce segments, net sales rose 13 per cent to US$93m (€64.6m) from US$81m (€56.3m) last year, worth operating remaining stable year-on-year at US$5m (€3.5m).

Looking ahead to the rest of the year, Mr Aguirre said: 'While our results will continue to reflect normal seasonality, especially in our European banana operations, we are encouraged by our strong first-half results and now expect that, in the absence of any unforeseen weather or other event risks, our second-half comparable income will improve versus a year ago by at least as much as we have improved in the first half.'