Kraft Foods today (16 February) posted a leap in fourth-quarter profits as the benefits of its restructuring programme flowed through to the US food giant’s bottom line.
The owner of brands from Dairylea cheese to Cadbury chocolate booked net income of US$710m for the last three months of 2009 – against $180m a year earlier.
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Kraft’s restructuring programme ended last year but had led to a series of one-off charges absent in the last quarter of 2009.
However, net revenues rose 3.2% to $11.03bn, missing the $11.07bn forecast by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
Kraft said foreign exchange had boosted quarterly turnover by 3.2 percentage points. Stripping out foreign exchange, organic sales grew 0.4%.
“2009 was a strong finish to our three-year turnaround and gave us excellent momentum heading into 2010,” said chairman and CEO Irene Rosenfeld.
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By GlobalData“We’re ready to begin an exciting new chapter at Kraft Foods, with Cadbury’s brands as a valuable addition to our portfolio. Together, we’ll remain focused on driving sustainable top-line growth, while delivering against our cost savings and synergy opportunities. As a combined entity, we are well positioned to deliver top-tier performance and accelerate our long-term growth.”
Click here for Kraft’s full earnings release and check back later for more from the US food giant at the CAGNY conference in Florida, which starts today.
