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Halloween is Hershey's busiest time of the year, making up about
10% of its annual revenue, with sales benefiting for months in
advance of the October holiday as retailers place early orders
to stock up on Twizzlers, Jolly Ranchers and Kit Kat bars.
After two years of pandemic restrictions on trick-or-treating,
candy demand during Halloween is expected to have risen sharply
this year, with the National Retail Federation (NRF) expecting
sales to have hit a record high of $3.1 billion.
Hershey joins global packaged food makers, including Cadbury
Chocolate maker Mondelez International, Kellogg Co and Kraft
Heinz Co, in using its brand power and distribution scale to
pass on price increases to consumers while seeing little
pushback in demand.
Hershey said its overall average selling prices increased by
7.7% in the third quarter while volumes rose 4.1%.
The Reese's Peanut Butter Cup maker's revenue rose 15.6% to
$2.73 billion in the quarter ended Oct. 2. Analysts on average
had expected a revenue of $2.62 billion, based on IBES data from
Refinitiv.
Excluding extraordinary items, it earned $2.17 per share,
beating analysts' estimate of $2.10 per share.
The company said it now expects full-year 2022 net sales to grow
between 14% and 15%, compared to the previous forecast of 12% to
14% growth.
It forecast a 14% to 15% rise in its 2022 adjusted profit per
share, above the prior forecast of a 12% to 14% increase.
(Reporting by Granth Vanaik and Uday Sampath in Bengaluru;
editing by Milla Nissi)
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