The Hershey Company has posted mixed fourth-quarter results, experiencing a net sales drop of 1.6% from $1.97 billion to $1.94 billion compared to the same period last year.
Fourth-quarter net sales outside of North America dropped to $265 million, a fall of 5.4% compared to last year’s results. The result was largely affected by net sales in China, which fell 30%.
Net sales in North America also fell by 0.9% compared to last year, falling to $1.67 billion from $1.69 billion.
Hershey states this was “partially due to the timing of shipments last quarter and the launch of Hershey’s Cookie Layer Crunch Bar in the year-ago period.”
However, full-year net sales rose 1% to $7.51 billion from the $7.44 billion figure recorded in 2016.
Fourth-quarter net income also rose to $181 million, up from $116.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2016, while operating profit rose by 43.1% to $328 million compared to last year’s figure of $229 million.
Michele Buck, The Hershey Company president and chief executive officer said: “In 2017, we continued to strengthen our core chocolate brands, positioned our snacks business for ongoing success and increased adjusted operating profit margin.
“We continue to drive strong growth in our core chocolate brands as Reese’s, Hershey’s, KitKat and Kisses combined retail takeaway was solid, up 2% in the fourth quarter and 5% for the full year.”
Hershey acquired snack brand Amplify for $1.6 billion in December 2017, and Buck stressed that this acquisition could prove important for the brand.
She stated: “I am very excited about the acquisition of Amplify as we now have a meaningful presence, with the addition of the SkinnyPop brand, in the fast-growing warehouse salty snack aisle.
“We intend to bring scale and category management capabilities to this key sub-segment allowing us to capture more consumer snacking occasions with a broader portfolio of brands.
“In addition, our 2017 confectionery and warehouse-based snacks innovation, including Hershey’s Cookie Layer Crunch Bar and Hershey’s and Reese’s Popped Snack Mix and Dipped Pretzels, continue to perform well in the marketplace.”
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