The world’s largest cereal maker has reported a net sales decline of two per cent for 2009, although cost reduction strategies helped them to a record profit.

Reported earnings for full-year 2009 were $1.2 billion, an increase of 6 per cent from full-year 2008 of $1.1 billion – the figures failed to meet Wall Street’s expectations, however.

“We continued our momentum in 2009, delivering another year of growth despite facing one of the most challenging economic environments in decades,” David Mackay, Kellogg’s CEO, advised. “We maintained our focus on building and strengthening our core business, while successfully completing the first year of our three-year billion dollar plus cost reduction challenge.”

Asia Pacific internal net sales rose 5 per cent, but their overall international (outside US) performance was relatively soft – with the strength of the US Dollar in the early part of the year a major headwind.

“For the full-year our Asia Pacific business delivered 5% internal net sales growth building upon last year’s growth of 8%,” John Bryant, Kellogg COO, noted. “Our businesses in South Korea, Australia and India all had strong cereal performance.

“For Asia Pacific we expect to see top-line growth in the mid single digit range in 2010.”

2010 growth
“We enter 2010 with confidence in hitting our growth expectations, driving solid top-line growth, investing in our brands as well as implementing further cost-savings initiatives through our three-year billion dollar plus cost savings challenge. With excellent financial visibility, we remain confident in our ability to deliver long-term sustainable, dependable performance,” Mr Mackay concluded.

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