Kraft Foods reports rise in Q3 profits

American snack food company Kraft Foods has reported that its profit jumped 22.3% to $922m for the third quarter of 2011 – compared with $754m year-on-year – as a result of higher pricing on some products that balanced a 14% surge in costs.

The company’s total net revenues increased by 11.5% to $13.2bn, while North American net revenues increased by 4.4%, due to higher pricing across each of its product categories and contributions from successful new products.

In Europe, the company’s net revenue grew 16.1% as a result of its focus on power brands as well as cost management, while the emerging markets registered a 20.3% jump, driven by ongoing focus on power brands, important markets and core categories.

Chairman and CEO Irene Rosenfeld said the investments in marketing and new products continue to drive high-quality growth and solid market shares, and the company has accomplished this despite having taken significant price increases to offset record-high input costs.

"Together with substantial savings opportunities, we expect to deliver top-tier results in 2011 and remain on track to launch two industry-leading companies with strong operating momentum in the coming year," Rosenfeld said.

Kraft said that it is going ahead with its plans to split into two publicly traded companies: one focusing on the snacks business and the other on its North American grocery business.

The split is expected to be completed by the end of 2012.