Chocolate giant Barry Callebaut Group has outperformed the chocolate market in its half-year results. 

The company announced sales for its first six months of 2014/15 were up 11.6% to CHF3.2bn (£2.23bn), while net profit rose 10.7% to CHF132.4 (£92.42m).

Sales volumes were also up, by 2%, to 893,437 metric tons – beating the overall chocolate confectionery market, which declined 1.5% in volume over the same period (September 2014-February 2015), according to Nielsen.

Juergen Steinemann, chief executive of the Barry Callebaut Group, said: “As forecast, we had a good second quarter after a slow start to the year. Our volume growth accelerated, much in contrast to the currently weak global chocolate confectionery market. All growth drivers contributed to our growth, especially outsourcing and partnerships, and Gourmet.

“Our business in our main regions – Western Europe and the Americas – performed particularly well. Despite a weak cocoa products market and a negative currency translation effect, we significantly improved our profitability, thanks to our continued focus on product mix, margins and cost management.”

The company also said volume growth had benefited from a strong performance of the two global Gourmet brands, Callebaut and Cacao Barry, boosting overall sales volume in the Gourmet & Specialties Products business significantly by 6%.