Dive Brief:
- WhiteWave Foods reported a 17% jump in revenue to $1 billion, driven by a 23% sales increase in the company's largest category, domestic foods and beverages, where results from WhiteWave's recent acquisitions of Vega and Wallaby were favorable.
- Quarterly profit rose to $50 million, or 28 cents a share, up from $40.9 million, or 23 cents, last year.
- WhiteWave has raised its EPS outlook for the year to $1.17 to $1.18 from $1.14 to $1.17.
Dive Insight:
"WhiteWave expects to see 'the highest level' of operating income gains during the year in the fourth quarter, aided by 'continued cost leverage, higher productivity levels, improved commodity and other cost overlaps, as well as increased levels of contributions from completed acquisitions,'" Investors.com reported.
Plant-based foods and beverages are core to WhiteWave's successes as plant-based products rise in demand among health-conscious consumers. Food and beverage alternatives, such as soy or nut-based dairy products, are leaching market share from traditional counterparts. WhiteWave has committed itself to exploring and expanding more plant-based options for various categories in its portfolio.
Also helpful to WhiteWave this year — as it has been for other dairy producers like WhiteWave's former parent company Dean Foods, which WhiteWave spun off from in 2013 — has been the lower cost of milk due to the current milk surplus. WhiteWave also benefited from the pricing strategy for its premium dairy unit.
Acquisitions drove a significant chunk of WhiteWave's revenue. Without sales from So Delicious, Vega, and Wallaby, all acquisitions, quarterly revenue rose by 11% instead of 17%.