J.M. Smucker Revenue Declines

J.M. Smucker Co. posted a revenue decline in its latest quarter, as the company faced lower prices and volumes across many of its units.

Still, lower commodity prices and manufacturing costs helped profit edge higher.

Shares fell 2.3% in premarket trading.

Like other food companies, the Ohio maker of its namesake jams, as well as Pillsbury baking mixes, Folgers coffee and Jif peanut butter, has contended with consumers' shift away from packaged goods and toward options seen as fresher and more natural.

In recent moves to diversify its business and respond to changing consumer preferences, Smucker last year bought Big Heart Pet Brands for about $3.2 billion. Last November, Smucker agreed to sell its canned-milk business, which took $67.7 million off its top line in the quarter.

On Thursday, the company attributed the revenue decline to lower coffee prices, and said results were hurt by its pet foods segment and by the Folgers and Jif brands.

In all for the quarter, the company reported a profit of $177.3 million, or $1.52 a share, up from $176 million, or $1.47 a share, a year earlier. Excluding certain items, earnings per share rose to $2.05 from $1.91.

Revenue fell 7.9% to $1.91 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected adjusted earnings of $1.93 a share and $2 billion in revenue.

Smucker reaffirmed its forecast for fiscal 2017.

Its coffee business posted a 6% decline in sales due to decreased pricing but profit increased thanks to lower commodity and manufacturing overhead costs.

Its pet foods business also posted a 6% decline in sales, driven by its Meow Mix and Kibbles 'n Bits brands.

Its U.S. retail consumer foods business posted a 13% decline in revenue, driven by the sale of its canned-milk unit, and a 4% decline excluding the divestiture. The Jif and Pillsbury brands drove the revenue decline in the segment while the Uncrustables frozen sandwiches partially offsetting it.

Write to Austen Hufford at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 17, 2016 09:25 ET (14:25 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.