Lotus Bakeries, the Belgian family-owned baker that turned a humble Speculoos biscuit from a Flemish village into the fourth-largest cookie brand globally, reported another quarter of strong execution. First-half 2026 revenue rose 14.0% to €750 million, with net profit jumping 23.5% to €98.1 million. For the full 2025 year, the company posted over €1.3 billion in revenue and €172 million in profit.
Biscoff, the caramelized biscuit first baked in Lembeke near Ghent in 1932, now accounts for roughly 60% of group revenue. It is sold not only as a cookie but also as a spread and in partnership with ice-cream producer Froneri across thirteen European markets under brands including Mövenpick and Nuii. A second portfolio — nakd, TREK, BEAR, and Kiddylicious — targets the natural-snacks trend.
Perhaps most striking is how far the business stretches without investing in factories or sales forces of its own. Mondelez has integrated Biscoff into its Toblerone, Suchard, Freia and Marabou ranges and is reportedly drawing up a joint business plan for Brazil modeled on a successful arrangement in India. The decision to license rather than replicate is an unusual sign of pricing power for a company that owns just one cookie.
In the United States, Biscoff became the fastest-growing brand in both the biscuit and spread categories in H1 2026, surpassing 10% household penetration for the first time — a figure that still leaves enormous room given that established American biscuit brands reach multiples of that share. Asia is being built out from a new factory in Chonburi, Thailand, which began full operations in the first half of 2026 and exceeded initial expectations.
The company is committing its largest-ever capex program: more than €500 million between 2026 and 2030 across sites in Mebane (US), Lembeke and Chonburi, with over €250 million earmarked for 2026 and 2027 alone. Net financial debt stood at roughly €115 million in mid-2026, or 0.3 times EBITDA. Management said the investment is demand-driven, not demand-creating.
Operational efficiency separates Lotus from larger rivals. Nestlé, which operates roughly 2,000 brands, ran a 16.1% operating margin in 2025 compared with Lotus’s 17.5% in H1 2026. Return on capital is around 17% and return on equity approximately 21%, both sustained for a quarter-century.
Ownership structure underpins that continuity. The Boone and Stevens families hold a majority stake, and CEO Jan Boone has been at the helm for over twenty years. In the same twelve-month period Nestlé lost two CEOs and its chairman resigned under investor pressure, Lotus made essentially one strategic move: adding capacity for Biscoff.
The valuation premium is steep. The stock trades at roughly 55 times 2025 earnings per share, dropping to about 45 on next-year estimates — compared with roughly a third of that multiple for Nestlé and Mondelez. The P/E peaked near 70 in 2024 before pulling back, a cycle that repeats and offers entry points for patient investors.
