PARIS (AP) — French dairy company Danone says its revenue grew 7.6 percent in the first quarter of the year, driven by strong sales in Asia.
The maker of Evian water on Tuesday posted €5.1 billion ($6.6 billion) in revenue for January to March.
While Danone is the world’s largest yogurt maker — behind brands like Activia — much of its growth has come from bottled water sales, which the company says are particularly strong in emerging markets.
That’s good news for Danone since that’s where it is growing. With Europe’s debt crisis raging and many countries there already in or threatened with recession, sales were flat on the continent.
By contrast, revenue grew by 25 percent in Asia.
The company maintained its target of 5 to 7 percent growth in sales for 2012.
