(Reuters) – Kraft Heinz reported lower-than-expected fourth-quarter results on Wednesday as rising prices weighed on demand for soups, sauces and cold cuts sold by the American food giant.
The group strengthened its promotional offers in North America to stimulate demand during the quarter, but inflationary pressures limited volumes.
Quarterly volumes fell 4.4 percentage points (pp) during the quarter, compared to a decline of 5.4 pp during the previous quarter.
Prices rose 3.7% across Kraft Heinz’s portfolio, compared to a 7.1% rise in the third quarter.
Kraft Heinz now forecasts annual organic net sales growth of between 0% and 2% and said it expects a return to positive volumes in the second half.
The group’s fourth-quarter net sales were $6.86 billion, below analysts’ expectations of an average of $6.99 billion, according to LSEG data.
Kraft Heinz shares fell 1% in pre-market trading on Wall Street.
(Reporting Savyata Mishra and Anuja Bharat Mistry in Bangalore, French version Augustin Turpin, editing by Kate Entringer)
Copyright © 2024 Thomson Reuters