Campbell Soup's Adjusted 3rd-quarter Profit Rises

EMILY FREDRIX

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Campbell Soup Co. said Thursday that its third-quarter profit fell sharply from last year, when it sold its Godiva Chocolatier brand, but its adjusted profit rose 3.6 percent even as its sales slumped.

The Camden, New Jersey-based company said it earned $174 million, or 49 cents per share in the three months that ended May 3, down from $532 million, or $1.40 cents per share a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items such as the sale of Godiva, the largest U.S. soup maker earned $171 million in this year's third quarter, or 48 cents a share, up from $165 million, or 43 cents per share a year ago.

Its revenue fell 10 percent to $1.69 billion. Volume and mix — the type of products people buy — fell 6 percent.

The earnings beat estimates though revenue fell short. According to Thomson Reuters, analysts expected profit of 42 cents per share on revenue of $1.79 billion.

The company said the strong dollar pushed its results down 4 cents per share. As the U.S. dollar gains strength, that weighs on international sales for U.S. companies, once the sales are translated back into American dollars. Campbell's expects this year's full-year results also to take a hit from the strong dollar, this time of about five percentage points.