Change in consumer habit shakes food giants

Manufacturers of sugary drinks and processed foods are suffering to raise sales, before consumers more conscious about health and prices, which forces them to cut costs to raise profits and seek acquisitions to improve results. The challenges were evident on Friday (16/02) when three giants--Kraft Foods ' Heinz, Coca-Cola and Danone--have announced results for the fourth quarter that show the abandonment by consumers of products that deliciavam previous generations- -industrial cheese sliced the soft drinks with sugar content of 39 grams--in favor of healthier alternatives. "Our financial performance in 2017 not reflected our potential," said Bernardo Hees, President of Kraft Heinz, which had sales of 1.1% drop in the U.S.--the seventh consecutive drop. The change in consumer taste moved the largest food and beverage manufacturers on the planet. Coca-Cola, which reported its lowest sales of soft drinks in 31 years, been managed 6% high in organic sales, with the help of vitamin water, teas and similar and other beverages included in your line, in large part by acquisitions. Hees, Heinz, Kraft hinted that the main shareholder of the company--the 3 g group, the Brazilian Jorge Paulo Lemann, Carlos Alberto Sicupira and Marcel Telles--could seek new acquisitions, after a 20% drop in stock prices. If there is more industry consolidation, Hees said, "we want to be part of it". Since the merger of $ $100 billion of Kraft with Heinz, the 3 g comes following the manual cost cutting. The gross profit margin rose to 37%, compared to 27% when the formation of the company, in 2015. On Thursday (15/02), she announced that reached cost-cutting goal. Net sales rose to $ $8 billion, reflecting the benefit of the tax restructuring in the United States. Coca-Cola plans to save $ $3 billion by next year in your plan of cost cuts. Soup Other food and beverage companies fared worse. The Campbell Soup reported a fall of 2% organic sales in the fourth quarter, due to low demand for its traditional soups in North America. Nestlé has revealed that sales last year grew in your slower pace in two decades. Danone yogurt, and mineral water, said sales of its product lines laid down for at least a year had grown 2.9% in 2016, slower expansion in 20 years. For analysts, the consolidation will be inevitable this year, as a result of the battle for sales between companies. Mark Schneider, President of Nestle, warned that the abandonment of a mega-trend of industrialised food is here to stay. There was a pattern in 2017 in the food and beverage sector, said. The entire sector took a while to recognize the fact, but now is in our sights.