Danone
Danone saw H1 profit up 2.7% to €861m but below forecast of €890 million. Revenue was up 8.7% to €9.73bn for the half, which met forecasts. Dairy division posted sales of €5.67 billion, a 6% period-on-period rise over 2010.
Higher commodity costs including milk which was expected to rise 6-9% affected its margins along with its 2010 purchase of the Russian dairy group Unimilk for €330m.
BASF
BASF registered a Q2 profits rise of 23% to €1.45bn on sales of €18.46bn, but said a second-half of year slowdown was likely due to market concerns.
"We continue to be concerned about the development of the euro as well as the debt situation in some European countries and the US," said BASF chief executive officer, Kurt Bock.
The acquisition of Cognis contributed to growth figures in North America and the Asia-Pacific the company said.
Lonza
Meanwhile fortunes slipped slightly at Swiss pharma-nutra company Lonza which saw profits slide 28% to €84.26m, from €117.26m in the first half of 2010. The company said it had been adversely affected by the strong Swiss franc on currency markets, which contributed to a sales fall of 8.3% to €1.03bn.
Lonza’s net profit for the first six months of the year fell to SFr97 million from SFr135 million a year earlier.
BASF sees Q2 profits rise 23% to €1.45bn on sales of €18.46bn but expects 2nd-half of year slowdown due to market concerns.