The French food and drink giant Danone has reported strong revenue growth in the third quarter, as it benefited from the hot weather in Europe during this summer. The company said revenues grew 5.2% from last year to €3.49 billion.
The company also said its full-year sales and operating margin will be at the top end of its estimates.
For the full year Danaone hopes to reach like-for-like revenue growth of 5% to 7% this year. It expects earnings per share, excluding one-off items, to rise by around 5%.
For the nine-month period, revenues reached €10.11 billion, down 3.4% on the year.
Meanwhile, CEO Franck Riboud conformed the company was in talks with the Russian group Wimm-Bill-Dann, but refused to discuss specifics.
Danone has a 7.2% stake in Wimm-Bill-Dann, which is valued at about $1 billion.
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By GlobalData
Wimm-Bill-Dann, the Russian fruit juice and dairy group, said on Thursday that it had launched preliminary and exclusive discussions with Danone, aimed at a merger of the two groups.