Lindt has partially U-turned on its decision to hike prices after Easter chocolate sales dropped.
The Swiss chocolate maker said a “necessary groupwide” price surge of 11.8% was one of the reasons revenue shrank in the first half of this year, particularly in the UK, Germany, and Switzerland.
It also blamed weaker Easter demand and a drop in tourism from Asia and the Middle East “due to geopolitical uncertainties”. In response, it said it has adjusted prices and boosted marketing in certain regions for the second half of the year.
Around Easter, Lindt is known for its chocolate rabbits wrapped in gold-coloured foil and decorated with a red ribbon and bell on their necks.
Overall, the company’s sales dipped 0.9%, with European sales down by 2.1%. It added that “performance was impacted by more price-sensitive and mature markets such as Germany, Switzerland and the UK”.
By volume, meaning the amount of chocolate sold rather than the money it made, overall sales sank 7.5%. Pre-tax profit fell 1.5%.
Meanwhile, sales of Lindt chocolate in airports decreased “due to ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, and therefore declining passenger traffic”.
Lindt said its sales picked up in North America, Australia, China, and Japan, though these countries account for a much smaller slice of its sales than Europe, where it makes over half its revenue.
Lindt chief executive Adalbert Lechner said: “The actions we have initiated focus on volume recovery in the second half of 2026 and lay the foundation to regain volume growth momentum in 2027.”
Lindt is not the only chocolate firm which has been putting prices up.
Experts say climate change has led to extreme rainfall and droughts which have decreased cocoa farmers’ crops.
This pushes up costs of making chocolate, and companies have chosen different ways to react to this, with some reducing chocolate content or sizes rather than raising prices.
According to the latest official data, the annual rate of chocolate and sweet price rises is 7.9%, external – much higher than the general rate of UK inflation at 2.8%, external.
