Kellogg Co. K said Thursday it had a net loss of $98 million, or 29 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, after income of $433 million, or $1.27 a share, in the year-earlier period. The loss was caused by adverse mark-to-market impacts and upfront charges related to the company’s plan to separate into three publicly traded companies, housing its global snacks, North American cereal and plant-based food businesses. Excluding those items, the company had EPS of 94 cents, ahead of the 85 cent FactSet consensus. Sales rose 12% to $3.832 billion from $3.421 billion, also ahead of the $3.663 billion FactSet consensus. Chief Executive Steve Cahillane said the beat came amid significant cost inflation, worldwide bottlenecks and a significant inventory rebuild in North American cereal after a fire and strike in 2022. “We enter 2023 in solid financial condition with strong momentum around the world,” he said in a statement. Kellogg is now expecting its 2023 EPS to fall 2% to 4% on a currency-neutral basis. The stock was up 1.9% premarket and has gained 9% in the last 12 months, outperforming the S&P 500 SPX which has fallen 10%.
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