“We expect total share metric to improve moving forward as Europe gained share in Q3 following customer disruption in F1.”

In context

“volume/mix. Chocolate grew plus 9.2% with strength in both developed and emerging markets. Volume/mix was down minus 1.2%, driven mostly by challenges in Latin America whereas most of Europe came back strongly after customer disruption. Cadbury Dairy Milk, Milka, Toblerone and Freia Marabou all delivered strong growth for the quarter. Gum and candy grew 5.6%, driven by continued momentum and strength in key markets, including Brazil and US candy. Volume/mix in this category was slightly positive. Let's review market and share performance on slide 15. We held or gained share in 35% of our revenue base with solid results in chocolate as well as in gum and candy. This strength was partially offset by our US biscuits business, which accounts for approximately 25 percentage points of revenue. We expect total share metric to improve moving forward as Europe gained share in Q3 following customer disruption in F1. The US still has work to do, but we have seen shareholding in the last three months and believe new price packs in Q4 should help drive further improvements. Moving to regional performance on Slide 16. Europe grew 8.1% in Q3. Execution was strong in key markets such as the UK, Germany and France, all delivering significant growth. We saw a slight uptick in elasticity resulting from pricing, but consumer sentiment remains relatively stable. OI dollars were up more than 46%, including significant A&C investments and due in part to pricing versus favorable cocoa phasing. North America grew 3.7% against a strong compare of nearly 10% in the prior year. Solid performance in growth channels, distribution gains and impactful brand activations like the Oreo Coca-Cola partnership drove Q3 growth.”