Earnings report

Mexican dairy processor Grupo LaLa's sales increased 4.7% in Q1

Sales in the milk and other dairy products segments increased, nondairy beverages decreased.

Grupo LaLa, S.A.B. de C.V., Mexico City, said this week that its first quarter net sales rose 4.7% to 11,630 million pesos (about $765.8 million). Net income rose 18.6% to 944 million pesos ($62.1 million).

LaLa reports sales by segment:

Milk: Pasteurized milk, pasteurized dairy-based beverages, UHT milk, UHT dairy-based beverages and dried milk powder.
Other Dairy products: Cream, butter, cream-based spreads, yoghurt, cheese, ice cream and desserts.
Non-Dairy Beverages and Others: Beverages, tea, juices, cold-cuts and other income.

Sales in the milk segment increased 0.4 percentage points to 66.3% of sales. Other dairy products rose 0.9 percentage points to 28% of sales and nondairy beverages and others fell 1.2 percentage points to 5.7%.

In a statement, Grupo LaLa CEO Scot Rank said: "We had a strong start to 2015, with continued positive momentum. While first quarter revenues increased below our expectations and potential, LALA's profitability improved due to increased productivity at our manufacturing plants, improved logistics and production efficiencies, as well as tight cost control across the organization."

He added: "The consumer demand has been slow to recover and we've maintained a positive outlook for the future based on our ability to capitalize on the many opportunities we're seeing at our company and within the industry."

Read the full report in English here.

Read the full report in Spanish here.

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