Oatly shares have fallen as the oat milk giant slows growth expectations while they struggle to convert more consumers from dairy to plant based.
Shares in Oatly plunged 15% to $3.34 (£2.74) as the Nasdaq opened today, valuing the group at less than $2 billion (£1.64 billion).
The drop is a significant fall from the $10 billion (£8.2 billion) IPO market cap in May 2021.
It comes as Oatly revealed revenues in the second quarter increased 21.8% to $146.2 million (£120.1 million).
Net losses for the second quarter soared to $72 million (£59.1 million), compared to $59.1 million (£48.5 million) a year ago.
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The milk giant blamed higher employee-related costs, including share-based bonuses for directors, higher branding, and customer distribution expenses.
First-half revenues at the group increased 20.2% to $344.1 million (£282.6 million), while net losses rose to $159.4 million (£130.9 million), compared with $91.4 million (£70 million) in the same six months last year.
Oatly CEO Toni Petersson, blamed a “challenging operating environment”, referencing the war in Ukraine, ongoing Covid disruption and “inflationary and supply chain pressures.”
He added: “The pace at which we have been able to convert new consumers from dairy to plant-based milk is taking longer than we had hoped and we expect this to continue for the remainder of the year.”
Petersson said global consumer demand remained “as strong as ever” and “we have a proven multi-channel strategy that we believe positions us well for long-term growth and profitability.”
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