PITTSBURGH & CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Kraft Heinz Company (Nasdaq: KHC) (“Kraft Heinz” or the “Company”) on Wednesday reported financial results for the first quarter of 2024.
“I’m pleased that our strategic focus on unlocking end-to-end efficiencies and reinvesting in the business to drive sales growth continues to pay off,” said Kraft Heinz CEO Carlos Abrams-Rivera. “Our first quarter results were in line with our expectations, with growth across each of our three strategic pillars – Global Away From Home, Emerging Markets, and North America Retail ACCELERATE Platforms – and continued sequential volume recovery. At the same time, we increased year-over-year operating income in the quarter.”
“Our Agile@Scale methodology continues to fuel reinvestment in the business, helping to deliver against our gross efficiency target. These reinvestments are powering innovation, brand superiority, disruptive marketing, sales excellence, and further productivity to drive growth.”
Abrams-Rivera continued, “As a result, we are reiterating our outlook for 2024 and remain confident in our ability to drive profitable growth.”
Net sales decreased 1.2 percent versus the year-ago period to $6.4 billion, including a negative 0.6 percentage point impact from foreign currency and a negative 0.1 percentage point impact from divestitures. Organic net sales decreased 0.5 percent versus the prior year period. Price increased 2.7 percentage points versus the prior year period, with increases in each segment that were primarily driven by list price increases taken to mitigate higher input costs. Volume/mix declined 3.2 percentage points versus the prior year period, with declines in the North America and International Developed Markets segments that were primarily driven by elasticity impacts from pricing actions and the reduction of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (“SNAP”) benefits in the United States, partially offset by volume/mix growth in the Emerging Markets segment.
Operating income increased 1.7 percent versus the year-ago period to $1.3 billion, primarily driven by higher pricing. This more than offset unfavorable volume/mix, investments in marketing, technology, and research and development, and an unfavorable impact from foreign currency (0.5 pp).
