Cereal is a troubled category, and increased costs are a challenge to consumers — Management at Post Holdings announced earnings last week, and things aren’t looking good for the St. Louis based consumer goods holding company. Net sales increased by 12.7%, but gross profit declined by 6.9% compared to the previous year. They’re bringing in more money, but making less profit. The primary cause…

If you’ve been paying attention to any branded consumer goods company’s COVID-era financial returns, you’ll notice a familiar refrain: Things are crazy, but overall, business is going great. Private label companies? Not so much. Nowhere is this more apparent than TreeHouse Food’s recent investor call. Before discussing the company’s financial…

The recent Keurig Dr. Pepper (KDP) earnings call focused on the popular industry topics of late: Supply chain disruptions, commodity inflation, and transportation shortages. With sales up almost 7%, the company is doing a solid job managing all three. There was one point in the Q&A that I found very…

In a recent investor call, Albertsons predicted that COVID-19 related shocks would generate manageable inflation in the upcoming months. “We expect the inflation to be higher as we go through the year, but we expect it still to be in the 3% to 5% range.” CEO Vivek Sankaran said. “Which…

In Beyond Meat news, the California-based manufacturer of plant-based meat substitutes announced it signed deals with McDonald’s and Yum Brands to provide flagship menu offerings with the fast-food giants in the future. “It is my strong belief,” CEO Ethan Brown told investors, “that partnerships of this nature with partners of…

Last week Nestlé, the world’s largest packaged food company, posted solid earnings as consumers continued to pivot towards grocery stores amid the pandemic. Overall, the company saw organic growth rise by 3.6%, putting it in between rivals Kraft Heinz (6.3%) and Unilever (1.9%). Much of this growth is due to…

The Q2 2021 Clorox earnings call revealed more good news for the Oakland based consumer packaged goods company. Overall, organic sales increased by 26%, fueled primarily by 42% growth in the company’s health and wellness division, which includes the namesake cleaning brand. “We’re continuing to see increases in household penetration…

For nearly a decade, CPG and e-commerce was a strategic priority for most firms. For years managers investigated the possibility of an entirely new channel-one with potentially higher margins than traditional brick-and-mortar retail. There were plenty of unknowns: How would this impact our main distribution channels? What about pack counts…

With its 4Q earnings report, Kimberly-Clark showed that brands still matter-even in categories with intense private label pressure. The Texas-based personal care company, which manufactures various paper products, saw organic sales increase 6 percent for the full fiscal year. “Overall, our results were strong,” CEO Michael Hsu told investors, “and…