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[1/3] Packaged food for sale is seen on shelves at a Dollar Tree in Islandia, New York, U.S., May 12, 2023. Razor manufacturer Edgewell Personal Care Co (EPC.N) and Kraft Heinz Co (KHC.O) have overhauled or built new teams dedicated to working with the biggest U.S. dollar stores like Dollar Tree Inc (DLTR.O) and Dollar General Corp (DG.N) in the last year. Makers of food and household staples are pushing deeper into dollar stores because the low-cost retailers are opening thousands of locations each year. Griffin added that dollar stores are also introducing more "premium" private label brands, like Dollar General's Nature's Menu for pets. Kraft-Heinz also created a new team of five people late last year to identify and develop products for dollar stores, a spokesman said.

☆ Kellogg lifts annual forecasts on price hikes, resilient demand
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 4 (Reuters) - Kellogg Co (K.N) on Thursday forecast a smaller drop in annual profit and raised the lower end of its sales outlook on the back of consistent price hikes and resilient demand for its cereals and snacks. Shares of the Michigan-based company rose marginally in premarket trading after the Corn Flakes maker beat market expectations for first-quarter revenue and profit. The Pringles maker's strong outlook reflects comments from peers PepsiCo Inc (PEP.O) and Hershey Co (HSY.N), who also lifted their annual forecasts in recent months boosted by price increases. However, organic volumes declined by 1.9% in the first quarter, while overall prices rose 15.6%. Net sales in the first quarter rose 10.4% to $4.05 billion, beating analysts' estimate of $3.95 billion, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

HERSHEY, Pennsylvania, March 23 (Reuters) - Hershey Co (HSY.N) is looking to reduce "trace" amounts of lead and cadmium in its chocolate, chief financial officer Steve Voskiul told Reuters on Wednesday, after Consumer Reports found that some dark chocolate bars had potentially harmful levels of the heavy metals. Consumer Reports found that Hershey's Lily's extremely dark chocolate 85% cocoa bar was high in lead and cadmium. Its Hershey's Special Dark mildly sweet chocolate and Lily's extra dark chocolate 70% were also high in lead according to the report. Voskuil said the manufacturing and cleaning process for cocoa beans removes the "vast majority" of lead and cadmium. Hershey is "evaluating" if it can remove more of the metals through additional cleaning of cocoa beans or alternate sourcing, he said.

☆ Potential TikTok ban sends advertisers scrambling
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Sheila Dang | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

In recent discussions with ad buyers, TikTok representatives have stuck to the company's current talking points. TikTok employees have played up ongoing plans to separate the user data of Americans and store it in the country. In a section of the email titled "Can the Chinese government request TikTok U.S. user data?" Even with talk of a ban, most advertisers have not changed their spending plans on TikTok, media buyers said, because discussions of a ban have lingered since 2020 without any result. "A ban isn't a ban until it's a ban," he said.

HERSHEY, Pennsylvania, March 22 (Reuters) - Hershey Co (HSY.N) is looking to reduce "trace" amounts of lead and cadmium in its chocolate, chief financial officer Steve Voskiul told Reuters on Wednesday, after Consumer Reports found that some dark chocolate bars had potentially harmful levels of the heavy metals. Consumer Reports, a nonprofit consumer group, tested chocolate bars including those made by Hershey late last year and found that some of them contained possibly harmful levels of lead, cadmium or both for people who eat more than one ounce per day. Consumer Reports found that Hershey's Lily's extremely dark chocolate 85% cocoa bar was high in lead and cadmium. Its Hershey's Special Dark mildly sweet chocolate and Lily's extra dark chocolate 70% were also high in lead according to the report. Voskuil said the manufacturing and cleaning process for cocoa beans removes the "vast majority" of lead and cadmium.

☆ Reese's calling its new peanut butter cups 'plant-based' is the clearest sign the term has lost all meaning
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Hershey is debuting a chocolate bar and Reese's peanut butter cups that are plant-based. The candies use oat milk instead of dairy milk. It's the latest plant-based version of a packaged food as the term becomes over-used. The Hershey Co., which makes both of the candies, will start selling plant-based peanut butter cups this month, the company said Tuesday. The peanut butter cups will be the first vegan chocolates that the company has sold across the US, the company said.

☆ Hershey launches vegan Reese’s
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Vegan Reese’s are happening. Hershey, which makes Reese’s along with Hershey bars, Kisses and other chocolates and candies, announced two new dairy-free products on Tuesday: Reese’s plant-based peanut butter cups, and a vegan chocolate Hershey bar with almonds and sea salt, each made with oats instead of dairy and designed to taste like milk chocolate. The new Reese’s variety will be available nationally this month, and the new Hershey bar is arriving in April. The company is the latest to introduce a vegan chocolate in hopes that it will attract more customers. Mondelez (MDLZ) acquired Hu, a company which makes vegan chocolate, that year, as well.

☆ Bath & Body Works adds director, Third Point backs off proxy fight
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Svea Herbst-Bayliss | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Shoppers wait in line outside a Bath and Body Works retail store in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., December 8, 2020. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File PhotoNEW YORK, March 6 (Reuters) - Bath & Body Works Inc (BBWI.N) on Monday named veteran financial executive and board member Thomas Kuhn as a new director, ending a potential challenge from billionaire investor Daniel Loeb's hedge fund Third Point. "Tom’s 35 year history as a respected financial and legal advisor, including working with consumer companies, will bring an important perspective to Bath & Body Works as it focuses on its key strategic initiatives to maximize shareholder value," Bath & Body Works board chair Sarah Nash said in a statement. Bath & Body Works, which is valued at roughly $10 billion, has been operating as a standalone company since 2021. At Bath & Body Works the company was advised by law firm Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, financial services company J.P. Morgan Chase & Co, proxy solicitor Innisfree M&A Inc and public relations firm Joele Frank.

☆ Bath & Body Works adds second new director amid pressure from Third Point
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Svea Herbst-Bayliss | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Last week Bath & Body Works added Lucy Brady, a senior executive at Conagra Brands (CAG.N) and consumer products veteran to the board, expanding the group to 11 from 10 members. Voskuil and Brady's appointments come weeks after Third Point, which owns a 6% stake in the company, hinted it might push for board seats. In December Third Point announced its stake in a regulatoryfiling and criticized the company's high costs, includinggenerous executive pay. Bath & Body Works, best known for selling soaps, candles andlotions, is valued at $10 billion. Third Point spent an average of $38.16 per share on thestock which is now trading at $40.76.

☆ Premarket stocks: Why traders are so infatuated with inflation
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

What’s happening: Investors will get some market direction clarity on Tuesday morning with the release of key inflation data. It’s not all about the Fed: Traders are infatuated with CPI, but it’s likely going to affect markets more than it will future Fed policy. “CPI is the big inflation report that affects markets more than any other,” he said. Even beyond housing, the services sector has seen year-over-year inflation higher than 3.9% every month since March 2021, said Chaudhuri. And as Powell noted in Washington last week, the stickiness of core services inflation is his greatest concern.

☆ Consumer Reports urges dark chocolate makers to reduce lead, cadmium levels
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Jonathan Stempel | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

NEW YORK, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Consumer Reports on Monday urged four chocolate producers to commit by Valentine's Day to reduce the amounts of lead and cadmium in their dark chocolate products, after testing revealed harmful levels of the heavy metals. Last month, Consumer Reports said 23 of the 28 dark chocolate bars it tested included potentially harmful levels of lead, cadmium or both for people who eat more than one ounce of chocolate a day. Consumer Reports said many consumers eat dark chocolate for its potential health benefits and relatively low sugar levels, but "there's nothing healthy about ingesting heavy metals." Consumer Reports did not immediately respond to a request for additional information. Trader Joe's has been sued at least nine times by consumers over its dark chocolate since Consumer Reports released its study.

☆ Trader Joe's is being sued after tests suggested some of its dark chocolate contains potentially unsafe levels of lead and cadmium
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Trader Joe's was hit by two lawsuits over alleged high levels of lead and cadmium in its chocolate. Consumer Reports found that two of its own-brand dark chocolate bars contain potentially unsafe quantities of heavy metals. The lawsuits relate to two of Trader Joe's own-brand products: its 72% cacao dark chocolate and its Dark Chocolate Lover's 85% cacao chocolate. For the Dark Chocolate Lover's 85% cacao chocolate, these levels were 127% for lead and 229% for cadmium. Because dark chocolate contains more cacao than milk chocolate, it generally has higher levels of lead and cadmium as a result.

[1/2] A Hershey's chocolate bar is shown in this photo illustration in Encinitas, California January 29, 2015. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File PhotoCompanies Hershey Co FollowNEW YORK, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Hershey Co (HSY.N) has been sued by a consumer who accused the company of selling dark chocolate that contains harmful levels of lead and cadmium. In a proposed class action filed on Wednesday, Christopher Lazazzaro said he would not have bought or would have paid less for Hershey's Special Dark Mildly Sweet Chocolate, Lily's Extra Dark Chocolate 70% Cocoa and Lily's Extreme Dark Chocolate 85% Cocoa had Hershey disclosed their metals content. Some studies suggest that the antioxidants and relatively low levels of sugar in dark chocolate could help prevent cardiovascular disease. Hershey's Special Dark bar and Lily's 70% bar were high in lead, and Lily's 85% bar was high in lead and cadmium, the magazine said.

☆ Zero-Based Budgeting, Currency Hedges Among the Tools CFOs Can Use to Weather Headwinds
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( Nina Trentmann | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

One area to which finance chiefs scouting for efficiencies have turned is zero-based budgeting, a tool that gained popularity early in the pandemic and requires finance executives to question and justify each line item in every new budget period. Reese’s peanut-butter cup maker Hershey Co., based in Pennsylvania, regularly goes through every line of its profit and loss statement, Finance Chief Steve Voskuil said. Detroit-based General Motors Co. is slowing and in some areas even freezing hiring, and homing in on other fixed costs, Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson has said. Facing high inflation and an uncertain outlook, finance chiefs are using zero-based budgeting to lower expenses in areas including operations, real estate, logistics, sales and marketing. Finance executives at large U.S. companies, including Coca-Cola Co. and materials-science company Dow Inc., are increasing their foreign-currency hedges and covering longer time periods.

☆ Hershey Boosts Guidance After Third-Quarter Sales Rise 13%
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Sabela Ojea | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Hershey Co. raised its guidance for the year after reporting a 13% rise in third-quarter sales on higher-than-expected demand for its snacks and candy despite raising prices. The maker of Reese’s peanut-butter cups and Twizzlers candy on Friday said higher prices helped it offset higher supply-chain costs and advertising expenses, with the latter aimed at boosting consumer spending on its treats.

☆ Candy maker Hershey raises sales outlook ahead of holiday season
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nov 4 (Reuters) - Hershey Co raised its full-year net sales and profit forecasts on Friday, signaling strong Halloween candy demand that it expects to continue into the holiday season despite higher selling prices. Hershey said its overall average selling prices increased by 7.7% in the third quarter while volumes rose 4.1%. The Reese's Peanut Butter Cup maker's revenue rose 15.6% to $2.73 billion in the quarter ended Oct. 2. The company said it now expects full-year 2022 net sales to grow between 14% and 15%, compared to the previous forecast of 12% to 14% growth. It forecast a 14% to 15% rise in its 2022 adjusted profit per share, above the prior forecast of a 12% to 14% increase.

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