ZURICH - Makers of chocolate bars and coffee to lawn mowers and industrial robots succeeded in passing on soaring costs to consumers, first quarter earnings showed on Thursday , allaying fears higher prices could dent demand for their products.
Outside Europe, Tesla surged past Wall Street expectations on Wednesday, as higher prices helped insulate the electric vehicle maker from supply chain chaos and rising costs. There have been some signs in United States retail data that consumers have begun cutting back on discretionary spending amid high inflation and companies that thrived during the pandemic have lost some of their edge.
French peer Danone, whose product lineup includes Activia yoghurt and Evian water, said it was also ready for further rounds of price increases "if needed" after reporting a 7.1 per cent sales increase late on Wednesday. CEO Thierry Vanlancker said that the group's "vigorous pricing initiatives" had helped it manage "the unprecedented variable cost inflation that impacted our industry during the quarter".