Berenberg Adjusts Price Target, Estimates for Lindt & Sprüngli Amid Lower FY27 Volume Expectations

07:01 AM EDT, 07/23/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Berenberg revised its price target and earnings forecasts for Lindt & Sprüngli (LISN.SW, LISP.SW), warning that failed volume recovery could cause the chocolate manufacturer to miss its full-year 2027 organic growth target. "We continue to see downside risk to Lindt & Sprüngli's FY 2026E guidance and a return to the company's medium-term organic sales growth target in FY 2027E. The company reported H1 2026 organic sales growth in line with Visible Alpha, while organic sales volume (-7.5% yoy) missed expectations (-6.8% yoy). Adjusted EBIT beat expectations by 9%. The company announced pricing cuts, which we welcome as a step towards restoring volume growth, although we believe they may need to extend beyond Switzerland and Germany to support FY 2026E guidance and a return to algorithmic organic sales growth in FY 2027E. We anticipate scope for a through-the-cycle de-rating if FY 2027E volume growth fails to recover towards levels that can support the company's medium-term organic sales growth target of 6-8%, which we view as unlikely," the research firm said Wednesday. Lindt & Sprüngli forecasts organic sales growth between 4% and 6% for 2026. Against this backdrop, analysts made low-single-digit percentage cuts to their forecasts, driven mainly by reductions to their 2027 volume projections. Reflecting lower pricing and volume assumptions, Berenberg's 2027 organic sales forecast fell by 3.5 percentage points. Keeping the listed securities at sell, the research firm reduced the price target to 9,020 francs from 10,250 francs per participation certificate and to 90,230 francs from 102,520 francs per ordinary share.