Chocolate price hikes sweeten Lindt's operating profit

(Reuters) -Switzerland's Lindt & Spruengli reported a slightly better than expected full-year operating profit on Tuesday, as it fares through historically high cocoa prices.

"Tight cost control, efficiency gains, process optimization and price increases offsetting higher cocoa costs contributed to the increased profitability," the chocolate maker said in a statement.

Cocoa trades at around 6,908 pounds ($8,734.5) per metric ton in London, and analysts have said the chocolate industry is in for a rough 2025 as companies are faced with unprecedented cost of the raw material, likely to prompt further price hikes in a teens percentage.

Lindt's earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) were 884 million Swiss francs ($987 million) in 2024, a beat to analysts' consensus of 880 million francs compiled by LSEG.

The maker of chocolate Easter bunnies, which in January forecast sales growth of 7% to 9% for 2025 and predicted its prices would rise further this year, said it would propose a dividend of 1,500 Swiss francs per share for the year, in line with the LSEG estimate.

($1 = 0.8956 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by Paolo Laudani in Gdansk; Editing by Milla Nissi)