Mondelez International (MDLZ) Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference 2024 summary

Strategic direction and market outlook

• Maintains long-term strategy to lead in chocolate, biscuits, and baked snacks, with strong growth prospects over the next 5–10 years, especially in emerging markets.

• Short-term tactics include adjusting promotions, revenue growth management (RGM), and cost controls to address consumer behavior shifts and cocoa inflation.

• Focused on delivering healthy category growth, stable or increased market share, and positioning for significant growth in 2026.

Financial performance and guidance

• Reaffirmed upper end of 3–5% organic net sales growth for the year, expecting accelerated, volume-driven growth in the second half.

• European disruption and EMEA boycott impacted H1 volumes, but recovery is underway with strong July and August numbers.

• U.S. market showing positive trends with new promotions and package configurations, leading to stabilizing and slightly positive biscuit volumes.

Pricing, cocoa costs, and productivity

• Cocoa prices have eased, with a strong crop expected; flexible hedging strategies in place to benefit from further corrections.

• Pricing actions will be cautious, with RGM programs offering multiple price points to protect volume and share, especially in emerging markets.

• Productivity initiatives target non-working media, procurement, and overheads, while protecting marketing, innovation, and product quality.