Mondelēz International, the maker of Oreo cookies and Ritz crackers, posted first-quarter profit and sales that topped analysts’ estimates after cutting costs and raising product prices.
Excluding some items, profit was 41 cents a share in the period, the Deerfield, Illinois-based company said Wednesday in a statement. That beat the 38-cent average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Mondelēz, which generates about 80 per cent of its revenue outside North America, has been keeping a tighter rein on expenses as it copes with the stronger dollar. Currency changes have eroded the value of overseas revenue, turning last quarter’s 3.8 per cent in organic sales growth into a 10 per cent decline.
“We’re starting to see a virtuous cycle in our business,” chief executive officer Irene Rosenfeld said in an interview. “It’s coming from the fact that we’re managing our costs, which in turn allows us to expand margins and invest in growth.”
Mondelēz invested in a new factory in Russia last year and is building a $90 million plant in Bahrain. Rosenfeld also is working on a plan to reduce expenses by $3 billion by 2017.
Bloomberg News, edited by ESM
