- Fourth-quarter net sales declined 1.6%; full-year net sales increased 1.0%, including the impact of acquisitions and foreign currency exchange rates
– Fourth-quarter and full-year foreign currency exchange rates a benefit of 0.4 points and 0.2 points, respectively
– Acquisitions a 0.3 point contribution to full-year sales growth - Fourth-quarter earnings per share-diluted of $0.85 as reported and $1.03 adjusted
- Full-year 2017 earnings per share-diluted of $3.66 as reported and $4.76 adjusted
- Outlook for 2018 provided:
– Full-year reported net sales expected to increase 5% to 7%:
• Organic net sales expected to increase in the range of slightly up to around 2% versus last year
• Acquisition of Amplify anticipated to be about a 5 point benefit
• Impact of foreign currency exchange rates estimated to be negligible - Reported earnings per share-diluted expected to be in the $4.71 to $4.96 range
- Adjusted earnings per share-diluted expected to increase 12% to 14%, including Amplify accretion, and the benefit of U.S. tax reform and be in the $5.33 to $5.43 range
HERSHEY, Pa., Feb. 01, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) today announced sales and earnings for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2017. Consolidated net sales were $1,939.6 million compared with $1,970.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2016. Reported net income for the fourth quarter of 2017 was $181.1 million or $0.85 per share-diluted, compared with $116.9 million or $0.55 per share-diluted for the comparable period of 2016.
“In 2017, we continued to strengthen our core chocolate brands, positioned our snacks business for on-going success and increased adjusted operating profit margin,” said Michele Buck, The Hershey Company President and Chief Executive Officer. “We continue to drive strong growth in our core chocolate brands as Reese’s, Hershey’s, Kit Kat ® and Kisses combined retail takeaway was solid, up 2% in the fourth quarter and 5% for the full year. I am very excited about the acquisition of Amplify as we now have a meaningful presence, with the addition of the SkinnyPop brand, in the fast-growing warehouse salty snack aisle. We intend to bring scale and category management capabilities to this key sub-segment allowing us to capture more consumer snacking occasions with a broader portfolio of brands. In addition, our 2017 confectionery and warehouse-based snacks innovation, including Hershey’s Cookie Layer Crunch Bar and Hershey’s and Reese’sPopped Snack Mix and Dipped Pretzels, continue to perform well in the marketplace.”
As described in the Note below, for the fourth quarter of 2017, these results, prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), included items impacting comparability of $2.1 million, or $0.18 per share-diluted. Reported gross margin of 43.0% represented an increase of 530 basis points versus the fourth quarter of 2016, while reported operating profit of $328.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2017 resulted in operating margin of 16.9%. The effective tax rate in the fourth quarter of 2017 was 30.3%, including the impact of U.S. tax reform. For the fourth quarter of 2016, items impacting comparability totaled $148.9 million, or $0.62 per share-diluted. As described in the Note, adjusted net income, which excludes these items, was $218.1 million, or $1.03 per share-diluted, for the fourth quarter of 2017, compared with $249.7 million, or $1.17 per share-diluted, for the same period of 2016.
