“We are committing to you that EPS in 2026 will grow either way and we want to be ready for the worst.”

In context

“nd so, that should provide, I believe, on a longer term perspective, a little bit of a relief in terms of also demand. I think the market is very thin. If you look at the industry, it is covered very shortly. If you look at volume that gets traded daily, it is very, very small. And obviously, in this environment, we see particularly speculators to drive cost prices that are elevated. So, look, I think I was really hoping that by now, with the main crop behind us and the good numbers, cocoa will be more benign, but it isn't. And so, we have assumed a cocoa price that stays elevated for '25. And in our plans, it is elevated for 2026 as well in the sense that we prefer planning that way, rather than assuming and having an assumption that drives EPS growth simply because of cocoa coming down. We are committing to you that EPS in 2026 will grow either way and we want to be ready for the worst. But quite frankly, given that I believe there will be a surplus between supply and demand in 2025, I believe eventually cocoa will have to come down. Kenneth Goldman: Thank you very much. Luca Zaramella: Thank you, Ken. Operator: We'll move next to David Palmer with Evercore ISI. David Palmer: Yeah. Thanks. Just a theoretical follow-up on that. You mentioned that you believe that cocoa prices would return to a more sustainable price level. And I'm wondering whatever that level is, it might not be the $3,000 where we were not that long ago and it might not be the $10,000 we're at now. But let's say, $5,000, $6,000, whatever it is, and we get to that place in the next one or two years, is it your belief that you will have the ability and that you will ultimately get to a point where you're”