Italy's Lavazza reports core profit drop due to high coffee prices

MILAN (Reuters) - Italian coffee maker Lavazza reported a 14.9% drop in its 2023 core profit on Wednesday, citing a sharp increase in the cost of coffee beans and its decision to limit price increases.

The family-owned group said its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) came in at 263 million euros ($285 million) last year. Revenues rose 13% to 3.1 billion euros, thanks partly to the acquisition of French group MaxiCoffee, completed one year ago.

"In 2023, the macroeconomic scenario for the industry was extremely complex ... with prices at record levels for green coffee and Robusta in particular," Lavazza's Chief Executive Antonio Baravalle said in a statement.

"Nevertheless, we chose to limit price increases on our products to protect consumers, maintaining volumes but sacrificing our profitability," he added.

Baravalle said the group would continue to look at strategic investments that can contribute to the company's long-term development.

He added that he expected a return to more favourable conditions in 2024, when the group aims to recover gross operating margin.

($1 = 0.9234 euros)

(Reporting by Elisa Anzolin, editing by Gavin Jones and Tomasz Janowski)