French dairy giant Danone reported like for like sales growth of 3% for 2018, as total group revenues reached €24.7bn.

This was driven by strong like for like sales growth of 6% in Danone’s specialised nutrition division, to reach €7.1bn.

Specialised nutrition, which includes Danone’s infant formula business, had operating profits of just under €1.8bn as profit margins in the division widened from 23.8% in 2017 to a lucrative 24.8% in 2018.

Specialised nutrition accounts for less than 30% of Danone’s total sales, but the division brought in almost half of the group’s €3.6bn in operating profits last year.

Danone said its infant formula business recorded a slight decline in sales during 2018.

In China, which accounts for 30% of all the group’s infant formula sales, Danone said it saw sales decline for the final months of 2018.

Danone blamed this decline on falling sales of infant formula via indirect sales channels, such as supermarkets.

However, Danone said it was seeing very strong sales growth in direct channels such as specialised mother and baby stores in China.