Barry Callebaut eyes cocoa division split, shares jump

Barry Callebaut AG

16/12/2025 14:45

** Barry Callebaut BARN.S rises 6.5% after Reuters reported the Swiss chocolate maker was eyeing separating its cocoa division amid volatile cocoa prices

** Analysts at Vontobel and Kepler Cheuvreux say the vertical integration of the world's biggest chocolate maker would make a carve-out complicated

** Kepler Cheuvreux adds that two thirds of the cocoa unit's gross sales come from internal sales to the chocolate side of the business

** A separation could make sense from a financial perspective, however, the broker adds, as the unit "has a volatile low margin earnings stream and sucks up a lot of invested capital"

** "We do not exclude anything anymore, as the company has been surprising the market on numerous occasions in the past two years," Vontobel says

 (Reporting by Bernadette Hogg)

 ((bernadette.hogg@thomsonreuters.com))