Kellogg Company: cuts 2010 profit view

Battle Creek / MG. (kc) Kellogg Company announced that it is lowering full-year 2010 financial guidance based on softer than expected performance. The decline was driven by weaker performance in some of the Company´s core cereal markets, continued competitive intensity, and lingering impact of the cereal recall.

For the third quarter, the Company estimates a net sales decline of four percent on a reported basis and two percent on an internal basis, which excludes the impact of foreign currency translation. Third quarter operating profit is estimated to decrease five percent on a reported basis and three percent on an internal basis. Third quarter earnings per share are estimated to decline four percent on a reported basis, or two percent on a currency-neutral basis.

Based on these results and the outlook for the remainder of the year, Kellogg Company has lowered full-year 2010 guidance. Internal net sales are expected to be down approximately one percent. Internal operating profit is expected to be approximately flat, which includes the benefit of lower 2010 incentive compensation costs. Currency-neutral earnings per share growth is now anticipated to be in the four to five percent range. The Company will report 2010 third quarter results on Tuesday, November 02, 2010 followed by a conference call to discuss the quarterly results and outlook for the remainder of 2010, as well as provide guidance for full-year 2011.

Kellogg Company President and CEO David Mackay: «2010 has clearly been a challenging year, and we are disappointed with our third quarter performance. We will discuss more details on our third quarter earnings conference call».