Danone’s Q2 results were impacted by a sheer drop in bottled water sales as a result of Covid-19 and falling water sales worldwide—particularly in the out-of-home sector. Danone owns major bottled water brands such as Evian, Volvic and Badoit, and net sales registered by the company’s waters unit fell 28% on a like-for-like basis in the second quarter, with volumes decreasing 12% and value falling 16.1%. The company also announced that it was committed to becoming 100% carbon neutral in many of its brands.

In June, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) cleared Danone’s acquisition of a majority stake in bottled water company Harrogate Water. More recently, the European multinational food-products corporation announced a series of investments totalling approximately €100 million to strengthen its Specialized Nutrition business in China.