"Heinz said it sold 11 percent more ketchup in the fourth quarter,..."

Yeah... It's all those barbeques I had last winter.

From the AP wire (for educational/research purposes only)

/cat:F/pri:R/sld:F/por:1/for:5/slu:BC-EARNS-HEINZ 9---- @TEXT BC-Earns-Heinz,0258 Heinz reports earnings up in fourth quarter before charge PITTSBURGH (AP)  H. J. Heinz Co.'s profit before a restructuring charge rose nearly 12 percent for its fourth quarter based on strong growth in its core products, including the company's signature ketchup brand. The company reported a profit before the charge of $219.4 million or 60 cents a share, for the three months ended April 28 compared to $196.2 million or 53 cents a share in the same quarter a year ago. The results reported Tuesday exceeded the expectations of analysts surveyed by First Call, who predicted operating earnings of 59 cents a share. But its stock price fell 683/4 cents a share to $48.871/2 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Including $411.1 million in pre-tax restructuring charges, Heinz reported a $191.7 million loss, or 25 cents a share. Sales declined slightly to $2.47 billion from $2.48 billion a year ago due to unfavorable foreign exchange rates and divestitures. Heinz said it sold 11 percent more ketchup in the fourth quarter, 6 percent more seafood and had higher sales at its weight loss clinics. Pet food sales fell 4 percent. For the year, Heinz reported income of $1.65 billion or $2.40 a share before charges compared to $1.52 billion or $2.15 a share a year earlier. With charges, Heinz earned $474.3 million, or $1.29 a share in the latest year. Sales for the year grew just under 1 percent to $9.29 billion compared to $9.21 billion a year ago. AP-ES-06-15-99 1508EDT 

-- fake (fake@out.com), June 16, 1999

Answers

WOW!

delete.........

-- MidwestMike_ (midwestmike_@hotmail.com), June 16, 1999.

No holdon,

This one really pissed me off. Even the most dense wouldn't post something like this for any other reason but to disrupt!

Send this troll format c:

-- MidwestMike_ (midwestmike_@hotmail.com), June 16, 1999.

I'm not a troll. The item is true. I just took it off the AP wire at work. I read the same story this a.m. in the N.Y. Times while on my commuter train. I posted the story because I do believe the 11% increase in ketchup sales is mostly due to y2k preps. (Although mine tend to run more to the bean/grain variety.) I think stories like these are subtle indications of Y2k economic effects and a guage for us to measure what is sometimes amorphous. and my e-mail is a fake because I am at work and prefer not to use correct e-mail from office.

-- fake (fake@out.com), June 16, 1999.

Here's a URL for it:

http://www.heinz.com/js/news_index.html

-- fake (fake@out.com), June 16, 1999.

fake,

I think that before you would ever see a change in the food buying habits of the general public, you would see other kinds of changes in the market or in the business community. For example, here's a snip from a June 14th article at The Dismal Scientist, an economic news Web site, about recent business inventories:

http://www.dismal.com

[snip]

Analysis

Business added to their inventories by 0.2% in April, in line with expectations. This rate was slower than Marchs 0.5% gain, the result of slower retail accumulation. Both durable and nondurable retail inventories grew less quickly. The bulk of the slowdown was evident in auto inventories, which grew by 1.3% following a sharp 4.1% rise in March. Factory inventories continued their slide. Manufacturer inventories have fallen every month since November. This builddown combined with rebounding factory orders portends an acceleration in manufacturing activity this quarter.

Inventory accumulation looks to be a little slower in Q2, reversing the moderate addition to GDP provided last quarter. The inventory story should become more interesting as the year progresses, however, depending on the extent to which business build stocks to safeguard against Y2K. Inventory accumulation is expected to rise strongly in the fourth quarter.

The inventory/sales ratio remains very low at 1.36, just slightly up from last month, which was the lowest level on record. There is no significant inventory overhang in the economy. Falling I/S ratios have been the retail and factory story since last year. Now, the wholesale I/S ratio, which had been moving in the opposite direction, also appears to be falling.

[snip]

But keep looking for puzzle pieces. I've asked myself if it's a coincidence or not that bottled water is now much more prominently displayed at my supermarket than before. I don't know. It seems to me though that the financial world or business community would move to protect themselves before consumers would.

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), June 16, 1999.

No,

I think fake may be on to something. I have tons more ketchup sitting in my cupboard than normal. If if a small % does then that can add up.

-- Moore Dinty moore (not@thistime.com), June 16, 1999.

Hey Dinty-- Go look at the can label. Who is the manufacturer of Dinty Moore stew?I was just trying to track down tuna sales on the web. No info on Bumblebee, but I found out Starkist is owned by Heinz, which said in the earnings report at top of thread that its seafood sales were up 6%. Interesting...

-- fake (fake@out.com), June 16, 1999.

and the answer is...Dinty Moore, brought to you by Hormel--that maker of canned hams

From Hormel's May 1999 (2nd quarter) earnings report:

Net sales for the first 26 weeks of the current year were $1,590,100,000, down 0.2 percent from first-half sales last year of $1,593,239,000 while year-to-date tonnage volume showed a 7.6 percent increase.

Joel W. Johnson, chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer, was encouraged by the overall growth in tonnage volume, the strong market share performance of selected branded product lines and the improved mix in value-added products by the Meat Products Group.

-- fake (fake@out.com), June 16, 1999.

Gosh, what about all the mayo I've bought to go with that tunafish?

I think it is an interesting puzzle piece. I know my grocery bills have gone up from last year's.

-- Mommacares (harringtondesignX@earthlink.net), June 16, 1999.

Please ladies and gents, In this case I'm sorry I started, I didn't mean to be hard on fake. I thought it was troll material. I now believe I was wrong. Some people have different perspectives.

GBA

-- Mike (midwestmike_@hotmail.com), June 16, 1999.

well, i know i have been buying ketchup for Y2K. someone said kids will eat anything with ketchup on it, so I figured, heck if we have to break into the spam, well then darnit we are gonna have ketchup for that spam! ;)

pamela

-- pamela (pamela4@hotmail.com), June 17, 1999.