Campbell Net Profits Rise in Q4

Campbell Soup reported that net earnings for the quarter ended Aug. 1, 2010, were $113 million, or $0.33 per share, compared with $69 million, or $0.20 per share, in the prior year.

Sep 6 2010 --- Net earnings for the fiscal year 2010 were $844 million, or $2.42 per share, compared with $736 million, or $2.05 per share, a year ago. Excluding all items impacting comparability in both periods, adjusted net earnings increased 9 percent to $862 million compared with $794 million in the prior year, and adjusted net earnings per share increased 12 percent to $2.47 in the current year compared with $2.21 in the prior year. Sales were $7.676 billion, an increase of 1 percent.

Campbell Soup reported that net earnings for the quarter ended Aug. 1, 2010, were $113 million, or $0.33 per share, compared with $69 million, or $0.20 per share, in the prior year. Excluding items impacting comparability, all related to fiscal 2009, adjusted net earnings increased 6 percent in the quarter from an adjusted $107 million in the prior-year quarter. Adjusted net earnings per share increased 10 percent in the current quarter from $0.30 in the year ago quarter.

Douglas R. Conant, Campbell’s President and CEO, said, “In a challenging year, we delivered strong earnings growth, overcoming softer-than-expected sales, particularly in our U.S. soup business. We had another year of strong cash flow performance, generating more than $1 billion in cash flow from operations. For the year, we expanded gross margins through supply chain productivity improvements and previously announced cost-savings initiatives.”

Conant continued, “By effectively managing our margins in a tough economic environment, we have set the stage for next year and positioned the company for growth through continued innovation, category leading marketing spending and competitive pricing. I am confident that we have the right strategies to drive growth across our strong portfolio of healthy beverages, baked snacks and simple meals. In healthy beverages, we will build on our track record of innovation and continue our effective marketing efforts. In baked snacks, we have a full slate of innovation across our portfolio with exciting new products for Pepperidge Farm and Arnott’s. In U.S. soup, we have significant plans to enhance our condensed soups, strengthen our competitiveness in ready-to-serve soups and introduce a new advertising campaign to support the entire U.S. portfolio of ‘Campbell’s’ soup brands and to help drive category growth.”

In fiscal 2011, Campbell expects sales growth of 2 to 3 percent and adjusted earnings growth before interest and taxes (EBIT) of 4 to 5 percent. These growth rates are slightly below the company’s long-term growth targets, reflecting the challenging economic and consumer conditions in the marketplace. Despite these conditions, Campbell expects fiscal 2011 EPS growth to be within its long-term target range of 5 to 7 percent from the fiscal 2010 adjusted base of $2.47.