Two food industry giants reported quarterly results that showed a continuing boost from the pandemic.
Kraft Heinz booked profit for the third quarter of $597 million, a 34% drop from a year earlier. However, if losses from recent divestitures are removed from consideration, profit actually rose 1.4%.
CEO Miguel Patricio told investors that the pandemic has allowed it to attract consumers, especially younger ones, to its established brands. He said Kraft Heinz would seek to cut costs and spend more money on R&D and marketing.
Kellogg Co. reported a sales increase of 1.7% for the third quarter, but said the effective rate was actually 4.5% without asset sales and the effect of currency conversions. Operating profit as booked was 55.9% higher, but most of that was due to lower one-time charges; if those are disregarded, profit went down 9.7% due to higher spending on marketing and “performance-based compensation.”
Kellogg raised its guidance for a rise in full-year organic sales from 5% to 6%.
