Kraft Heinz (KHC) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Kraft reported net income of $551 million for the second quarter, which compares to income of $482 million in the second quarter of 2014.

Heinz’s net loss for the quarter was $344 million or $0.91 per share, and included $180 million of preferred dividends.

This is Kraft Heinz Co’s first earnings report after the closure of its July merger, which created the third-largest food and beverage company in North America and the fifth largest internationally.

The results come just weeks after Heinz Kraft axed members of its senior marketing team, including Tom Bick, senior director-integrated marketing communications and advertising and Kara Henry, senior marketing director, communications and agency relations, according to Ad Age. Kraft Heinz shares ducked down more than 2.5% in late trading after closing with a 0.5% gain at $78.81.

However, CEO Bernando Hees did not say what job cuts might now be on the cards at Kraft as he seeks to make good on his promise to “generate aggressive, run-rate cost savings of $1.5bn by the end of 2017”.

Finally, Molson Coors reported better-than-expected profit figures for its second quarter, helped by price hikes and increased demand for premium brands. “We have a lot of hard work ahead of us as we continue to design our new organization, always putting our consumers first”. Sales slid 4.1 percent to $2.62 billion at Heinz, which didn’t have analysts’ estimates available for comparison.

Kraft, which traded under the ticker symbol “KRFT” before the merger, reported adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of 98 cents per share.

Shares of Kraft Heinz fell about 2% in afterhours trading on Monday.

Despite the downbeat Q2 results, investors have high hopes about the combination as 3G has proven it can successfully streamline companies under its control. The negative impacts from foreign exchange translation were responsible for a 1.4% decline, the company said in a statement.

The fact that the new Kraft Heinz Chicago headquarters at the Aon building at the top of Grant Park – to which staff will be moving in early 2016 – is much smaller than the current headquarters at Northfield, IL, has also prompted speculation that the headcount will drop accordingly.