Kellogg Co. reports strong 2020 results. Issues 2021 financial guidance

Battle Creek, MI-based Kellogg Co. (NYSE: K) this week announced fourth-quarter and full-year 2020 results and provided a financial outlook for 2021.

Kellogg's said fourth-quarter earnings rose from the same period last year. Its profit totaled $205 million, or $0.59 a share, compared with $152 million, or $0.42 a share, in last year's fourth quarter. The company's revenue for the quarter climbed 7.5% to $3.46 billion from $3.22 billion last year.

The cereal and convenience food giant’s well-known brands include Corn Flakes, Frosted Flakes, Pringles, Eggo,and Cheez-It.

Kellogg's Q4 and FY 2020 highlights:

• Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Kellogg's has executed well against its priorities of ensuring. employees' health and safety, supplying food to the marketplace and aiding its communities.

• The company finished the year with results that were on or better than its guidance for each of its key metrics: organic net sales, currency-neutral adjusted operating profit, currency-neutral adjusted earnings per share and cash flow.

• The company delivered fourth-quarter and full-year net sales growth on a reported and organic basis, underpinned by strong in-market performance.

• Fourth-quarter and full-year 2020 operating profit and earnings per share increased year on year, even as fourth-quarter earnings per share were negatively impacted by expenses related to the redemption of debt in December.

• The company generated better-than-expected cash from operating activities in 2020, enabling it to reduce its debt for greater financial flexibility.

• Despite continued uncertainty during the pandemic, the company issued 2021 financial guidance that implies growth on a two-year basis that is consistent with its goal of balanced financial delivery.

• The company announced an increase in its quarterly dividend rate in the second quarter, and its intention to resume share repurchases this year.

"The year 2020 was a year unlike any other, one in which the world faced unprecedented challenges," said Kellogg's chairman and chief executive Steve Cahillane. "With the priorities of keeping our employees safe, supplying food to the marketplace, and aiding our communities, we have managed well through the pandemic, while also delivering exceptional results.  None of this would have been possible without the dedication, resilience, and agility of our Kellogg colleagues around the world. We enter 2021 with solid momentum…” 

Click here to see Kellogg’s 2020 fourth-quarter press release and summary charts.