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Swiss premium chocolate maker selling Lindt and Ghirardelli branded chocolate products globally.
Swiss premium chocolate maker selling Lindt and Ghirardelli branded chocolate products globally.
Sells through grocers and its own shops from factories in Switzerland, Europe and the US, with sales peaking around Christmas and Easter. Buying Ghirardelli and later Russell Stover gave it a large US position, so Europe and the US together carry the group.
In one line: A Swiss Hershey's premium equivalent (owns Ghirardelli in the US).
Moat: wide (brand, distribution, scale). Premium chocolate brand equity built over 175+ years, commanding pricing power versus mass-market rivals.
Headquarters: Kilchberg, Switzerland · Founded: 1845 · Employees: 15,500
Size Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Spruengli (LISN.SW) is a Switzerland Consumer Staples company (Food: Specialty/Candy) with a market value of $24.6B, the 22nd largest of 158 Switzerland companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at CHF 89,200 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares fell 7.7%, against -1.7% for the median peer and +11.6% for the Switzerland market (cap-weighted) — 5th lowest of 17 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 4.1% over the last twelve months (peer median +6.7%); the operating margin is 16.5% (peer median 11.4%).
Valuation It trades at 28.2× forward earnings against a peer median of 17.6× (4th most expensive of 17).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 3% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +8%, so the hurdle is -5 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 8.4 points above its cost of capital (5.0% WACC).
Next results Next results expected around 9 Mar 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | CHF 5.90B | CHF 5.92B | CHF 5.47B | CHF 5.20B | CHF 4.97B |
| Revenue growth | — | +8% | +5% | +5% | — |
| Gross profit | CHF 2.23B | CHF 2.29B | CHF 2.22B | CHF 2.20B | CHF 2.02B |
| EBITDA | CHF 1.28B | CHF 1.27B | CHF 1.18B | CHF 1.09B | CHF 1.02B |
| Net income | CHF 730M | CHF 727M | CHF 672M | CHF 671M | CHF 570M |
| Free cash flow | CHF 775M | CHF 247M | CHF 912M | CHF 498M | CHF 551M |
| Capital expenditure | CHF 315M | CHF 330M | CHF 314M | CHF 302M | CHF 230M |
| Total debt | n/a | CHF 1.76B | CHF 1.66B | CHF 1.41B | CHF 1.44B |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Spruengli LISN.SW | $24.6B | -8% | +4% | 16% | 28.2× | 3.4% |
| Mondelez International MDLZ | $83.6B | +8% | +6% | 18% | 19.9× | -2.7% |
| Hershey Company (The) HSY | $35.8B | -3% | +7% | 20% | 19.2× | -5.0% |
| Nestle NESN.SW | $266B | +11% | -2% | 16% | 19.0× | 1.3% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | LISN.SW | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +9.7% | +7.1% | 6th highest of 17 |
| 6-month return | -7.7% | -1.7% | 5th lowest of 17 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -31.6% | -20.6% | 4th lowest of 17 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +4.1% | +6.7% | 5th lowest of 17 |
| Operating margin | 16.5% | 11.4% | 8th highest of 17 |
| Forward P/E | 28.2× | 17.6× | 4th most expensive of 17 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 3.4% | -1.1% | 7th most demanding of 16 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +8.1% | +8.1% | 8th lowest of 16 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -4.7 pp | -8.5 pp | 7th most demanding of 16 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +8.4 pp | +3.2 pp | 5th highest of 17 |
| EV / EBITDA | 16.8× | 11.6× | 3rd most expensive of 16 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.1× | 2.1× | 6th least indebted of 16 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Spruengli LISN.SW | Switzerland | $24.6B | -8% | +4% | 16% | 28.2× | 3.4% | +8.1% |
| Ajinomoto 2802.T | Japan | $25.3B | -16% | +7% | 11% | 29.4× | 19.2% | +8.1% |
| Foshan Haitian Flavouring and Food 3288.HK | Hong Kong | $29.4B | -24% | +11% | 27% | 18.0× | -4.6% | +4.2% |
| Hershey Company (The) HSY | United States | $35.8B | -3% | +7% | 20% | 19.2× | -5.0% | +7.5% |
| J.M. Smucker Company (The) SJM | United States | $13.9B | +33% | +5% | 19% | 12.9× | -7.1% | +2.5% |
| McCormick & MKC | United States | $13.0B | 0% | +13% | 17% | 15.9× | 3.2% | +4.1% |
| Britannia Industries BRITANNIA.NS | India | $12.1B | -18% | +7% | 17% | 41.7× | 28.9% | +7.8% |
| Tata Consumer Products TATACONSUM.NS | India | $11.4B | -6% | +15% | 11% | 55.5× | 42.8% | +11.8% |
| Kikkoman 2801.T | Japan | $10.9B | +24% | +9% | 11% | 24.8× | 8.8% | +11.2% |
| Orkla ORK.OL | Norway | $10.8B | -6% | 0% | 10% | 15.5× | -1.1% | +8.7% |
| Barry Callebaut BARN.SW | Switzerland | $8.33B | +5% | +9% | 5% | 23.7× | -8.4% | +16.5% |
| Darling Ingredients DAR | United States | $7.92B | -20% | +16% | 9% | 7.3× | 9.0% | +11.4% |
| Lamb Weston LW | United States | $7.61B | +31% | +3% | 10% | 16.6× | 4.0% | +12.5% |
| Meiji 2269.T | Japan | $7.35B | +14% | +4% | 8% | 17.2× | n/a | n/a |
| Mondelez International MDLZ | United States | $83.6B | +8% | +6% | 18% | 19.9× | -2.7% | +7.7% |
| Campbell's CPB | United States | $6.90B | +11% | -5% | 11% | 13.7× | -3.6% | +2.8% |
| Toyo Suisan Kaisha 2875.T | Japan | $6.74B | -4% | +7% | 17% | 14.5× | -5.0% | +9.5% |