Kraft Heinz quarterly profit, sales miss estimates

[February 16, 2018]   (Reuters) - Kraft Heinz Co's <KHC.O> quarterly profit and sales missed analysts' estimates on Friday, hurt by lower shipments for nuts, natural cheese and cold cuts in the U.S.

A Heinz Ketchup bottle and a bottle of Kraft parmesan cheese are displayed in a grocery store in New York March 25, 2015. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

Shares of the company, which is backed by billionaire-investor Warren Buffett and private equity firm 3G Capital, fell marginally in premarket trading.

Sales in the U.S., the company's biggest market, fell 1.1 percent to $4.79 billion, declining for the seventh straight quarter and also missing analysts' average estimate of $4.81 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company's net income rose to $8 billion, or $6.52 per share, in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 30, from $944 million, or 77 cents per share, a year earlier.

The reported quarter had a benefit related to the overhaul of the U.S. tax code.

The company, which owns brands such as Velveeta cheese and Heinz ketchup, said net sales inched up 0.3 percent to $6.88 billion, missing estimates of $6.92 billion.

Excluding items, the company earned 90 cents per share, missing estimates of 95 cents.

(Reporting by Vibhuti Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Shounak Dasgupta)

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