Half Year 2020 Barry Callebaut AG Earnings Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Arthur John Reeves - Barclays Bank PLC, Research Division - Analyst : It's still about COVID. But on the positive side, are you seeing an uplift in food manufacturing volumes as retail sales increase? That's the first part of my question. The second question is, I think that seasonal products, Easter eggs, haven't sold at all well. Do any of your customers ever come back to you to say that they've used your chocolate in Easter eggs, and they'd like you to help with discounting in the retailers? They are my 2 parts of the question.

Question: Arthur John Reeves - Barclays Bank PLC, Research Division - Analyst : That's good to hear. So really, the margin will be on the Gourmet & -- the margin pressure will be on Gourmet and Specialty? Are you having a lot more costs in all your factories? Or is it really just a mix effect because of the slowing Gourmet and Specialty sales?

Question: Andreas von Arx - Baader-Helvea Equity Research - Analyst : Yes. First question is also as previously on Outsourcing, maybe a bit more number oriented. If I look at the first half, I think that's around 6,000 tonnes additional Outsourcing, equaling 1.8%. I mean if I do that then for the full year, that's going to be a bit more than 10,000, if you don't have significant additional contracts coming in, which is way below the 30,000 to 50,000 Outsourcing contracts you have coming every year in the last few years. Is that correct? Or are you still confident to hit that implied guidance you had in the past of 30,000 to 40,000 tonnes coming from Outsourcing? Second question, again, food manufacturing. If I look at growth that is coming not from Outsourcing and also not from acquisition, I would note a significant slowdown as well first quarter to second quarter from, let's say, very high single digit to low single digit. I mean why is that not -- why should that not be seen as a trend of a clear slowdown in the normal FM business also globally in the quarters to come? And then the third question is on price discussions you are having at the moment with customers. I mean given the living income differential, you should rather talk to clients increasing prices, which I suspect is quite difficult at the moment given the lockdown. Are you worried that this could have a temporary negative impact as you might be unable to pass on the higher cocoa prices with new innovations in the coming quarters? And then Remco, just quickly on minorities. Can you make a sentence on the jump we have seen or on the minorities change we have seen year-over-year in the first half?