Dive Brief:
- Campbell Soup said soup sales rose 6% in its most recent quarter - a dramatic improvement over the 6% drop seen a year earlier.
- The soup surge, which was attributed to early shopping for the holiday season, led to an 8% rise in sales for the company's core simple meals unit, which includes soups and canned chicken.
- Sales in the snack division, which includes the Pepperidge Farms brand, rose 3%.
Dive Insight:
Good news like this out of Campbell was unexpected, and it would be wise not to expect a lot of it in the future. Campbell continues to face tremendous pressures, particularly a decline in consumers' use of canned soups. And perhaps more ominously, Campbell's gross margin for the quarter shrunk by 120 basis points as higher promotional costs and rising ingredient prices took a toll.