World Grain - February 2016 - 54

FEATURE: ANOTHER YEAR OF ADVANCES

-24%

-25%

-29%

-31%

Krispy Kreme

Bunge

ADM

Hain Celestial

Seaboard

-8%
TreeHouse Foods

Boulder Brands

Dunkin' Brands

PepsiCo

Flowers Foods

MGP Ingredients

-1%

+0%

+6%

+7%
J & J Snack Food

+10%
Kellogg

+7%

+11%
Panera Bread Co.

George Weston

+11%
Bridgford

+8%

+12%
Snyder's-Lance

General Mills

+12%

+13%
Ingredion

Grupo Bimbo

+16%
ConAgra

+12%

+17%
B&G Foods

+22%
Maple Leaf Foods

+19%

+22%
J.M. Smucker

Campbell Soup

+23%

+46%
Starbucks Corp.

Mondelez International

+47%
Post Holdings

+64%

Grain-Based Foods Share Index companies:
stock price change in 2015

Shaded companies not included in index

2014, when the company's stock rose
50%. The company's earnings were unGHUVHYHUHSUHVVXUHLQ,QWKH¿UVW
nine months of the year (period ended
Oct. 3), Seaboard earnings equaled
$57.73 per share on the common stock,
down 72% from $209.91 during the
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were under pressure in the company's
Pork, Commodity Trading and Milling
and Sugar segments.
The second widest decline in 2015
was sustained by another company that
enjoyed a share price jump the year before - Hain Celestial Group, Inc., Lake
Success, New York, U.S. The 31% decline in Hain shares represented a major interruption of a pattern established
in recent years - up 28% in 2014, 67%
in 2013, 46% in 2012, 36% in 2011
and 59% in 2010. For most of 2015,
Hain shares appeared poised for another 12-month gain but began spiraling
downward in mid-September. Days earlier the company announced Stephen J.
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replaced by Pasquale (Pat) Conte. In
November, Hain said North American
sales were under pressure on a number
of fronts, beginning with pressure in the
natural channel.
³8QSUR¿WDEOH \HDUDJR EDE\ DQG QXW
butter club programs" the company exited
and the effects of distributor and account
54

shifts also played a role, the company said.
Archer Daniels Midland Co., Chicago,
Illinois, U.S., sustained the third widest
decline in 2015, slumping 30%. The
steep drop followed an advance of 20%
in 2014 and a 59% surge in 2013. While
"very weak" industrial ethanol margins
were a principal factor severely pressuring earnings in the company's most recent quarter, other parts of the business
struggled as well. Agricultural Services
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Wild Flavors and Specialty Ingredients
were up during the third quarter, but
Wild sales were soft.
Bunge Ltd. shares slid 25% in 2015.
The drop followed an 11% gain in
2014. In 2015, the Bunge stock price
fell sharply in February after the White
Plains, New York, U.S.-based company
DQQRXQFHG IRXUWKTXDUWHU ¿QDQFLDO UHVXOWV7KHFRPSDQ\¶VSUR¿WVFDPHXQder pressure during the year, but fairly
optimistic guidance was issued for
2015 and beyond.
Declining 24% in 2015 was the share
price of Krispy Kreme Doughtnuts,
Inc., Winston-Salem, North Carolina,
86 IROORZLQJ D JDLQ RI LQ ¿Vcal 2014. Krispy Kreme shares drifted
lower fairly gradually over much of the
year but then fell sharply in September
when the company announced disappointing results for the second quar-

ter ended Aug. 2. The company cited
softness in the consumer packaged
JRRGV FKDQQHO DV OHVV SUR¿WDEOH GRRU
count and product mix combined with
smaller-than-anticipated volume. The
company also was experiencing a higher-than-anticipated return rate. While
adjustments have been made to address
the issue, the company said it expected
softness to continue for a while.
After a modest advance of 1% in 2014,
shares of Grupo Bimbo S.A.B. de C.V.,
Mexico City, Mexico, were very strong
in 2015, up 12%. Year-to-date earnings
of Grupo Bimbo were up 30% in the
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same period the year before. Operating
income of the U.S. business of Bimbo
was up 58% in the third quarter.
Shares of George Weston Ltd.,
Toronto, Canada, closed 2015 with a
gain of 8%, which compared with a gain
of 29% in 2014. Third-quarter earnings at Weston were up sharply from
the same period a year earlier, and a top
company executive said the food business was performing in line with management expectations.
Josh Sosland is editor of Milling & Baking News
and president of Sosland Publishing Co. He can
be reached at jsosland@sosland.com.
We want to hear from you - Send comments and
inquiries to worldgrain@sosland.com. For reprints of
WG articles, e-mail reprints@sosland.com.

February 2016 / World Grain / www.World-Grain.com

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World Grain - February 2016

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