Deoleo ended the first half of 2026 with a net profit of €19.4 million, almost as much as the €20 million it made across the whole of last year, and more than eleven times the €1.7 million it reported a year earlier.
The headline figure flatters the underlying business. Deoleo recovered €13 million in tariffs paid in the United States after the Supreme Court struck down the IEEPA duties in February — €6 million relating to 2025 and €7 million to 2026 — and also booked the favourable resolution of a long-running tax case in Spain. Last year's €20 million was itself inflated by a €17 million reversal on brand valuations, so neither number is a clean read on trading.
Strip the tariff refund out and the improvement is still real. EBITDA reached €32.9 million, up 51.5% year on year and 23% on a comparable basis. Gross margin rose 22% to €76 million, with unit gross margin up 25%. Lower olive oil purchasing costs are doing most of the work, letting the group rebuild margins after several difficult years, while stronger performance in more profitable international markets provided further support. Net debt held at around €85 million and leverage fell to 1.4x EBITDA from 1.7x at the end of 2025.
Demand is the weak side of the ledger. Net sales fell 8.7% to €393.2 million as lower raw material costs passed through to shelf prices, and volumes fell 2.9% to 76.8 million litres. Consumption continued to struggle in mature markets such as Spain and Italy. Northern Europe moved the other way, with volumes up 10%, and Deoleo added 10,000 new points of sale in India while expanding across Southeast Asia.
Two things sit outside the results but shape how they should be read.
The first is the United States. The €13 million refund is backward-looking. A new 10% general tariff now applies under Section 122, and Deoleo is lobbying — on its own and alongside other European and North American bottlers — for an olive oil exemption on public health grounds. The US remains an exposure, not a solved problem.
The second is the sale. CVC and Alchemy have an active process running, with Dcoop, NewPrinces and Coricelli through to the second phase and binding offers expected around the end of July. A set of results showing recovered margins, halved leverage and a profit close to last year's full-year figure is a useful shop window — and the Spanish government holds a veto over any change of control.
The read-across for the rest of the industry is the part that matters most. Lower prices at origin are giving large bottlers room to recover profitability well before consumer demand recovers. Deoleo is buying raw material more cheaply and rebuilding margin on flat-to-falling volumes — the mirror image of the squeeze producers are feeling.