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Investing.com -- Barry Callebaut CEO Peter Feld stated the company needs to reduce its debt to a reasonable level, according to an interview published in Swiss newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung on Thursday.
The Zurich-based chocolatier has faced significant challenges this year, cutting its volume guidance three times as high cocoa prices and uncertainty over U.S. tariffs led customers to purchase less of its products.
Feld revealed that Barry Callebaut had to increase prices by 63% during the current business year, while sales volume declined by approximately 6.3% over the same period.
The CEO addressed concerns about the company’s rising debt relative to profits, particularly after ratings agencies including Moody’s and S&P Global revised the company’s outlook to negative earlier this year.
Feld noted that warehousing costs for cocoa beans were proving expensive. "We need to reduce our debt to a reasonable level. We’re in talks with the banks about this and have already announced concrete measures," he said.
According to Feld, the company’s ongoing investment program is helping address debt issues by enabling better estimation of group-wide product sales and cocoa bean requirements.
"We’ve also adjusted the financing of our current assets and are on the right track," Feld added.
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