Azy Arbash used to like Mars bars
and chocolate made by Nestle SA and Hershey Foods Corp. Now
when the 45-year-old New Yorker wants a treat, he turns to
products with higher cocoa content from companies such as
Switzerland’s Lindt & Spruengli AG.
“My chocolate eating habits have definitely changed,”
Arbash said, as he browsed for Easter gifts at the Lindt store
on Fifth Avenue. “I target high-quality dark chocolate. I eat
only a small amount every day, so I can afford it.”
As obesity reaches record levels, chocolate consumption is
declining in the U.S. Yet the premium segment of the global
$42.2 billion industry is growing. In Europe, a similar shift
is taking place after governments four years ago allowed
vegetable fats to be used in chocolate, diluting its cocoa
taste.
Profit at Kilchberg-based Lindt rose 20 percent last year
as revenue gained 7.1 percent. Sales of organic chocolate at
London rival Green & Black’s surged 62 percent.
“The chocolate business is a very difficult one at the moment,” said Edouard Dubuis, who manages a 20 million-euro
($25 million) consumer goods fund including Nestle shares at
Clariden Bank in Geneva. “With premium chocolate as its
mainstay, a company like Lindt & Spruengli is much better
positioned than larger competitors.”
Premium chocolate is a product that uses cocoa butter as
its main fat source and uses at least 70 percent cocoa.
Shares of Lindt & Spruengli, founded in 1845, have risen
68 percent in the past year, more than quadruple the gains of
Vevey, Switzerland-based Nestle, the world’s largest chocolate
maker, and twice the share-price increase of Hershey,
Pennsylvania-based Hershey, the U.S.’s biggest maker of
chocolate candy.
Seifert Systems Invests in Energy Efficiency to Strengthen Operations
For manufacturers, energy is more than just another operating expense. It plays a critical role…
Learn More
