Its products tempt(诱惑，吸引) you from supermarket shelves everywhere, but you may not know its name. Formed 30 years ago when Klaus Jacobs, a German-born billionaire, folded together(合并，整合) France’s Cacao Barry and Belgium’s Callebaut, Barry Callebaut is the world’s biggest chocolate-maker. The Zurich-based firm buys about a quarter of the annual global cocoa harvest(收成，收获量) and turns it into chocolate for Magnum’s ice creams, Nestlé’s KitKats and Mondelez’s Cadbury and Milka brands.
它的产品在超市货架上随处可见，但你未必知道它的名字。30年前，德国出生的亿万富翁克劳斯·雅各布斯将法国的Cacao Barry和比利时的Callebaut合并，成立了巴里·卡勒博，它是全球最大的巧克力制造商。这家总部位于苏黎世的公司购买全球每年约四分之一的可可收成，将其制成巧克力，用于Magnum冰淇淋、雀巢奇巧、亿滋国际的吉百利和Milka等品牌。
Jacobs died in 2008. His family remain the biggest shareholders, with a stake(股份，股权) of around a third, but lately this has brought them little joy(没给他们带来多少快乐). Barry Callebaut has struggled for years with soft sales and high debt. The share price has melted(融化，暴跌); it is half what it was five years ago. Many of the firm’s woes(困境，麻烦) were self-inflicted(自己造成的), but the whole industry was hammered(遭受重创) in 2023-24 by crop failures related to climate change that drove cocoa prices to alarming heights(惊人的高度). They leapt(跃升，飙升) from around $2,500 a tonne to peak at $12,000 in 2024. (They are now around $4,000.)
雅各布斯于2008年去世。他的家族仍是大股东，持股约三分之一，但最近这并未给他们带来多少欢乐。巴里·卡勒博多年来一直苦于销售疲软和高债务。股价暴跌，仅为五年前的一半。公司的许多困境是咎由自取，但整个行业在2023-24年也因气候变化导致的歉收而遭受重创，可可价格被推至惊人的高度。它们从每吨约2500美元飙升至2024年12,000美元的峰值。（现在约为4,000美元。）
In January Barry Callebaut appointed(任命，委任) Hein Schumacher, a Dutchman and former boss of Unilever, as its fourth chief executive in six years. In April he said that operating profit in the year to August would fall by a “mid-teens(十几（个百分点的）)” percentage, rather than rise as previously projected(预测，预计), as the company prioritised rebuilding sales volumes over boosting(提高，促进) margins(利润率). The share price dropped by 16% on the day.
一月份，巴里·卡勒博任命荷兰人、前联合利华老板海因·舒马赫为其六年内的第四位首席执行官。四月，他表示截至八月的财年营业利润将下降“十几”个百分点，而不是如先前预期的那样上升，因为公司优先考虑重建销售量而非提高利润率。当日股价下跌了16%。