Mondelez-owned Cadbury pulled out of its profitable Dunedin plant last year, with the loss of more than 350 jobs, and also closed tourism attraction Cadbury World, when the site was sold for the new Dunedin hospital site.
Revenue for calendar 2018 was down 28.5%, from $296.6 million the year before to $211.8 million, before tax profit declined by 52.9%, from $66.1 million to $31.1 million and the after tax loss for the year improved from $9.92 million in 207 to $6.28 million, for 2018.
Notes from the annual report of Mondelez New Zealand Investments make no mention of what is behind the $84.8 million revenue decline.
Requests were made to interview Mondelez New Zealand managing director Cara Liebrock, but she was not available for an interview.
Mondelez' external affairs manager Jake Hatton said "the vast majority of the revenue change is due to the factory closure, not sales revenue".
With the factory closure, the factory revenue is no longer counted in the New Zealand annual accounts, he said.
"There were a range of factors that impacted revenue last year including a number of one-time adjustments which included the factory closure, changes to customer inventory management, and the closure of the popular Cadbury World attraction, which was unfortunately out of our control," he said.
The New Zealand business continued to "perform strongly" and Mondelez was committed to investing in the New Zealand business and working closely" with thousands of local retail partners" to support growth.
The report noted that property, plant and equipment sold to other Mondelez subsidiaries during the year for a total $7.35 million, against no plant sales the previous year.
The "restructuring provision" for 2018 was $12.58 million, while in 2017 the post-employment benefits, including severance payments, was $18.34 million.
It appears post-employment benefits, including severance payments, totalled $19.51, with $1.18 million booked in 2017.
Employee remuneration in New Zealand fell from $35.8 million in 2017 to $13.6 million in
2018.
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Comments
Is anyone really surprised at this news?
OMG !!! ... should we start a "give a little" page to help these traitors through the tough times or not ...
Karma can be so sweet at times ... ;-)
To be fair the reasons for the drop in sales of Cadbury chocolate extend beyond the closure of the factory here, but it's good to see none the less. Go ethical and local.
I have not bought 1 bar of cadbury's since they announced the closure and never will again.
It was interesting to see local Easter retail displays with no Cadbury's logos evident, only their protected purple colour. I wonder why that was?
Excellent news and well done. However $31 million profit is still $31 million too much for a mob whom in my view manufacture a far too sweet and inferior chocolate. Come on everyone, lets get these profits down further, There are far better and higher quality products available to us from more loyal brands......
Well done New Zealand. Keep supporting other brands and drive Cadbury's into the sea.
Hahahahaha...... still wont make me buy their rubbish.
There is no loyalty to Cadbury in Dunedin any more. We won't forget. Mondelez is renowned as an asset-stripper and that's exactly what they did in this town. Plus, they ruined the chocolate when they started using palm oil. If their profits are falling, they only have themselves to blame. The schadenfreude is sweet!
"With the factory closure, the factory revenue is no longer counted in the New Zealand annual accounts, he said."
Reported profit is down because profits are likely to be reported overseas now in a "tax friendly" country. Changes in sales volume is the most reliable method to determine how much their popularity has dropped.
Mondelez is not renowned for their loyalty to customers or employees. They tend to buy companies and restructure to reduce costs and increase profits. Some loss in sales is part of their formula.