Sweet growth for salty snack maker Snyder's-Lance
The growth saw the US firm’s net revenue for the year ending December 2013 totalling at $1.76 billion. It said this was primarily driven by sales of its core brands.
Carl E. Lee, Jr., the company’s president and CEO, said Snyder's-Lance had increased earnings by 22% excluding special items, and grown sales by 9%.
He told investors: "For 2013, we saw strong growth in our core branded items with solid distribution gains and share growth. Organically, core brands grew 5.4%, as we continued to invest in quality, capacity and innovation. Our overall operating margin increased in 2013 by 70 basis points, thanks to our team's execution of our strategic plan.”
“We increased our investment in advertising and marketing by over 20% from the prior year to support building our brands. In 2013 we strengthened our position as a leader in premium, differentiated snacks and are excited about the potential of 2014," he added.
He said expanding the company’s ‘better for you’ portfolio would be a priority in the coming year in order to keep the business consistent with consumer trends.
