The Hillshire Brands Co. reported earnings for its first quarter of fiscal year 2013. In the first quarter continuing operations showed an adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) increase of $0.19 to $0.51 and a reported diluted EPS increase of $0.31 to $0.41. The adjusted net sales increased by 2 percent to $1.01 billion and the reported net sales declined 1.4 percent. The adjusted operating income increased 76.3 percent to $105 million and the reported operating income increased $60 million to $87 million. The company experienced a strong performance in the retail segment, with sales growth of 3 percent and adjusted operating segment income growth of 45.5 percent.
“I am very pleased with our first quarter performance,” said Sean Connolly, chief executive officer, The Hillshire Brands Co., in a prepared statement. “Our volumes are moving in the right direction, our key brands are gaining strength, our costs are coming down and our team is markedly stronger. Overall, we are off to an encouraging start against our three-year plan to build a consistently growing and more profitable branded food company.”
He added, “While we are pleased with this progress, we recognize that we are only one quarter into our year. We want to wait for greater visibility into the cost picture and see our momentum continue to develop further before making any changes to our outlook. Accordingly, our full year guidance, given on August 9, remains unchanged at this time.”
