S&P Upgrades Barry Callebaut to Investment Grade

The rating’s outlook is stable. Standard & Poor’s also upgraded Barry Callebaut’s unsecured bonds and revolving credit facility to BBB-.

Dec 14 2011 --- Barry Callebaut, the world’s leading manufacturer of high-quality cocoa and chocolate products, announced that Standard & Poor's Ratings Services (S&P), one of the most important providers of credit ratings, assigned a BBB- credit rating to Barry Callebaut AG, up from BB+. The rating’s outlook is stable. Standard & Poor’s also upgraded Barry Callebaut’s unsecured bonds and revolving credit facility to BBB-.

Standard and Poor’s upgrade to investment grade reflects Barry Callebaut’s proven track record and improved financial metrics showing consistency and sustainability over time, also in challenging market environments with volatile raw material prices. The new rating is maintained by the company’s diversified product and geographic position, alongside its cost-plus pricing model, which enables Barry Callebaut to pass on price increases in raw material prices to its customers, as well as the steady levels of demand from its broad customer base.

Victor Balli, CFO of Barry Callebaut, said: “After having received investment grade by Moody’s in May this year, the upgrade of Standard & Poor’s marks another important achievement for our company. Our balance sheet and cash flow discipline as well as the constant strengthening of our financial metrics over the past years helped us to reach this goal.”