Cadbury reports solid interims and raises dividend 8 pct

Confectionery group Cadbury PLC (LSE: CBRY) said it has made good progress in the first half, with a strong chocolate performance and good growth in emerging markets more than offsetting a slow start in North America and continued softness in Europe, and it is raising its interim dividend 8 percent to 5.7 pence per share.

Revenue was up 13 percent at £2.767 billion, a 4 percent rise at constant currencies, generating an underlying pretax profit of £262 million, up from £212 million in the previous first half, a year-on-year rise of 24 percent and up 11 percent at constant currencies.

Chocolate sales saw a strong 10 percent growth over the last year’s performance, led by excellent market share gains in the UK and very good growth in emerging markets, particularly India and South Africa, Cadbury said.

CEO Todd Stitzer said: "Looking forward for the year as a whole, given the continuing economic uncertainty, we reconfirm our guidance to deliver revenue growth around the lower end of our 4-6 percent goal range. In addition, we now expect to deliver a full year margin increase of between 80-100 basis points in constant currency."
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