Brexit “biggest risk that we know of” says Cadbury owners

Brexit is the “biggest risk that we know of” according to Cadbury’s owners Mondelēz International.

Speaking after their results were released, CFO Luca Zaramella said that Brexit was “clearly unknown” at this point in time.

Despite this, overall Cadbury Dairy Milk sales were increased in the UK, partially due to the launch of portion-controlled products, specifically Cadbury Little Treasures in the UK, which saw a “very strong” launch and exceeded expectations.

Profits and revenues are down at Mondelēz, which manufactures Cadbury’s chocolate from its site in Bournville near Birmingham.

In its first quarter results, revenues were down to $6.5bn from $6.8bn the year before – though this did not include Easter sales which fall in the second quarter this year. This was higher than expected, as the firm focused its efforts on emerging markets in Latin America.

Earlier this year, Mondelēz announced that it was stockpiling raw materials ahead of Britain’s exit from the EU.

Mr Zaramella said: “I want to remind you that this is an investment year and some of the investments we’re making are for the benefit of the medium to long-term as well.

“So it will take a little bit of time for those investments to positively affect our revenue. And we clearly remain optimistic about our outlook, but as we’ve said many times, we want to be also thoughtful given some of the uncertainties that might post risk throughout the year, clearly Brexit is one of those. We also have some share losses and we need to address those in the remainder of the year.”