Hershey reverses loss and ends second quarter profit

Hershey, American chocolate manufacturer, ended the second quarter with net income of $ 145,900,000, reversing a loss of $ 99,900,000 presented in the same interval last year. Diluted earnings per share was $ 0.68, compared to a loss per share of $ 0.47 a year earlier.
In a report, the company reported that the performance in the quarter was benefited by a program of dissemination of sweets and chocolates, which initially was set to be released in the third quarter, which caused a non-seasonal sale products.
The President of the company, John Bilbrey said in a report that the results were better than the estimates made by the company for the period, with growth in North America and improvement in international sales.
The company''s net revenues increased 3.7% to $ 1.64 billion. Excluding the effect of exchange rate variations, the growth stood at 4.5%. By volume, sales increased 3.1%, with the numbers in North America stronger than expected by the company. In the region, there was an increase of 3.2% in revenue, reaching $ 1.44 billion.
In the international market, advanced 7.6%, to $ 192,800,000. Sales in foreign markets had a negative effect of 5.5 percentage points on account of exchange rate variations. In Brazil and in Mexico, sales rose 13 percent, excluding Exchange variation. With the effect of the devaluation of the real, Brazil sales revenues fell 13.8 percent, according to the company.
The selling expenses increased 5.6%, to $ 890,300,000. Sales expenses, administrative and marketing advanced 1.5 percent to $ 462,500,000. The operating profit reached $ 262,800,000, compared to an operating profit of $ 7,500,000 in the second quarter of the previous year. The gain before taxes (Ebit) amounted to $ 233,300,000 in the second quarter, compared with a loss before taxes of $ 16,100,000 in the same period last year.
For the year, the projected growth in Herhey recipe of 1%, including the Exchange variation expected in 2016. For the diluted earnings per share, the forecast is for an increase of 3% to 4%, getting between $ 4.24 and $ 4.28.