Whole Foods
Strong sales helped its first-quarter profit soar, prompting the natural and organic grocer to raise its outlook for the year.
Whole Foods, based in Austin, Texas, said it earned $49.7 million, or 32 cents per share, for the quarter ending Jan. 17. That’s up from $27.8 million, or 20 cents per share, in the same quarter last year. Sales grew 7 percent to $2.64 billion.
Kraft Foods
Income more than tripled in its first quarterly report since it acquired British candymaker Cadbury, in part on chief executive Irene Rosenfeld’s turnaround program.
Kraft said Tuesday it earned $710 million, or 48 cents per share, for the quarter, up sharply from $178 million, or 12 cents per share, in the same quarter of the prior year. Sales grew 3 percent to $11 billion.
Merck
Jumps in revenue and profit for the fourth quarter were mainly due to its purchase of Schering- Plough, its longtime partner on lucrative cholesterol drugs. It disclosed a little detail on planned restructuring but gave no forecast for 2010 profit or research spending.
Merck reported net income of $6.49 billion, or $2.35 per share, up from $1.64 billion, or 78 cents a share, a year earlier. The big gain was due to $7.8 billion worth of mostly merger-related items. Sales jumped to $10 billion from $6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Abercrombie & Fitch
Fourth-quarter profit dropped partly on costs to close its Ruehl stores, but adjusted results topped analysts’ expectations.
The clothing retailer said its net income fell 31 percent to $47.5 million, or 53 cents per share, for the period ended Jan. 30. That compares with a profit of $68.4 million, or 78 cents per share, a year ago. Sales slipped 5 percent to $936 million.
