Heinz Reports $202 MT Quarter

PITTSBURGH - Feb 24/04 - SNS -- H.J. Heinz Company reported a third quarter net income of $202.2 million on sales of $2,097 million, or 57 cents per share, up 33.4% from the $151.6 million, or 43 cents per share, on year earlier sales of $2,105 million.

This lifted net income for the nine months ending January 28, 2004 to $607.7 million, up 31.1% from the $463.7 million for the year-earlier period.

Net income from continuing operations, excluding special items in both periods, was $573.5 million, up 7.6% compared to $532.9 million. Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations was $1.62 for the period, a 7.3% increase over $1.51 in the prior year (excluding special items).

Sales increased 0.7% to $6,083 million for the nine-month period, driven by strong volume increases in the Asia Pacific and Foodservice segments and the benefit of favorable foreign currency exchange rates, which was partially offset by divestitures/deconsolidation.

The subscriber version of the article is available by Clicking here