Kraft Foods has reported a positive beginning to 2010, beating estimates and making a good start of its assimilation of recent acquisition Cadbury.
The US food producer has reported first-quarter net income of US$1.88bn for the three months to 31 March, compared with net income of $660m, a year earlier.
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Sales rose 26% to $11.3bn thanks to the first contributions from the Cadbury business it acquired earlier this year.
“Our first quarter results are early evidence of our future potential in combination with Cadbury,” said chairman and CEO Irene Rosenfeld. “We demonstrated strong momentum in our Kraft Foods’ base business, including high-quality top-line growth and strong operating gains. In addition, our Cadbury business delivered solid financial results.”
Rosenfeld continued: “Our integration is progressing extremely well. We moved quickly to name our leadership teams, and I’m pleased that about a third of our top 50 executives are from Cadbury. We’ve confirmed our synergy targets and the specific initiatives that will drive future margin expansion and accelerate our growth.”
Operating income in the first quarter increased 2.6% to $1.2bn.
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By GlobalDataFor 2011, the company said it expects to deliver its long-term target of at least 5% organic net revenue growth and mid-teens growth in operating EPS.
“The Cadbury acquisition is transformational for Kraft Foods, both strategically and financially, and this is reflected in our long-term outlook for the combined company,” said Rosenfeld. “We have a strong track record of successfully integrating acquired companies and we are on track to continue that with Cadbury.”
For the full details of the Q1 results, click here.
