Kraft Heinz has said it is evaluating possible “strategic transactions” to try and drive a turnaround as the beleaguered food giant continues to see declining sales.
The company cut its annual sales and profit outlook earlier this month after posting a sixth straight quarter of revenue decline.
“Over the past several months, we have been evaluating potential strategic transactions to unlock shareholder value,” said CEO Carlos Abrams-Rivera in a statement.
It came as Warren Buffett’s firm Berkshire Hathaway said this week it was giving up its two board seats at the company. Berkshire Hathaway owned 27.5% of Kraft Heinz stock at the end of March, according to regulatory filings.
Their departure was not the result of any disagreement with management or the board related to the company’s operations, policies or practices, Kraft Heinz said in a statement.
Kraft Heinz’s net income last year came in at $2.7bn, down from the $2.9bn the year before. Abrams-Rivera described 2024 as “a challenging year with our top-line results coming in below our expectations”.
The downward trend has continued into 2025, with net sales down 6.4% in the first quarter of 2025, while operating income fell 8.1% to $1.2bn.
Its announcement this week led to immediate speculation over the different strategic options it could pursue.
Bernstein analyst Alexia Howard said it sounded likely to mean a wide-ranging consideration and “not simply a tinkering around the edges of possible small-scale divestments”.
“At a minimum, we’d expect further disposals of some of the more troubled parts of the portfolio. A larger idea could be to spin off the faster-growing legacy Heinz business.”
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