Ralcorp

NEW YORK - Feb 1/05 - SNS -- Ralcorp Holdings, Inc. reported net earnings of U.S. $32.5 million on net sales of $440.1 million during the quarter ending December 31; a solid improvement from earnings of $23.6 million on sales of $362.5 million reported during the same quarter one year earlier.

Ralcorp's results for the first quarter of fiscal 2005 included a full three months of results from the Bakery Chef business and the Concept 2 Bakers (C2B) business, acquired on December 3, 2003 and February 27, 2004, respectively, while the results for the first quarter of fiscal 2004 included only about one month of Bakery Chef results and no C2B results. Both Bakery Chef and C2B are reported in the Frozen Bakery Products segment.

Effective at the beginning of fiscal year 2005, operations of the in-store bakery (ISB) group report to management of Bakery Chef, who then report combined results to Ralcorp's top management. Consequently, ISB (comprising the Cascade, Lofthouse, and C2B acquisitions) is now combined with Bakery Chef in a reportable segment called Frozen Bakery Products (previously known as Frozen Pancakes, Biscuits & Breads) rather than with Bremner in Cereals, Crackers & Cookies.

Subscribers can read the full text of the article by Clicking here