Campbell Soup Co. took a hard hit in its latest quarterly numbers, hurt by slowing sales and inflationary pressures as the pandemic winds down.
Campbell’s overall sales dropped 12% in the latest quarter compared to last year, with soup sales down 24%. Net income was $160 million for the quarter, a 4.8% drop from last year.
Campbell executives attributed the declines to a general opening up post-pandemic, with consumers starting to eat more restaurant food. The bump that Campbell and other pantry-staple producers enjoyed from the pandemic seems to be over. Meanwhile, Campbell is facing higher costs for ingredients, labor and transportation.
CEO Mark Clouse said that Campbell probably will have to raise prices in the near future.
“We are going to be very thoughtful about it,” Clouse said on a call to stock analysts reported in the Wall Street Journal. “The last thing we want to do is shut down the growth that we’ve worked fairly hard to have.”
