Analyst Note
| Ioannis Pontikis |Danone reported fiscal 2022 results that included like-for-like sales up 7.8% (volume/mix down 0.8% and pricing up 8.7%, with pro forma volume/mix up 0.2% excluding the Russian essential dairy and plant-based business). The volume/mix decline in the fourth quarter was about 4.3% with pricing up 11.3%, which although better than company-compiled consensus was still lower than that of large packaged food peers in our coverage, most notably wide-moat Nestle. EBIT margin for fiscal 2022 was 12.2%, slightly better than consensus and lower than our own estimates (12.5%). In the fourth quarter, the group's largest division, the EDP business, was up 14.8% (negative 6.5% volume/mix) while the specialized nutrition and water divisions were up 7.1% and 4.4% respectively (negative 0.3% and negative 5% volume/mix growth respectively).