Kraft Heinz reports 10% net sales increase, presses pause on further price hikes

Kraft Heinz has reported a 10% increase in Q4 net sales to $7.38 billion, rounding off an “incredible year” for the company.

The owner of Heinz Ketchup and Philadelphia recorded full-year sales growth of 1.7% to $26.49 billion.

On an earnings call, Kraft Heinz CEO and chair of the board, Miguel Patricio, said that the company has no plans to announce new pricing in North America, Europe, Latin America and most of Asia for the rest of this year.

The packaged food giant expects full-year organic net sales growth to be in the region of 4% to 6%.

Patricio commented: “2022 was an incredible year for Kraft Heinz, delivering strong results and ending the fourth quarter with solid momentum that positions us well for 2023. We continue to see strength driven by our key growth pillars while at the same time prioritising investments in our brands and delivering on efficiencies.”

He added: “We are confident that all the work we’ve done thus far positions us well to accelerate profitable growth and generate attractive returns for our stockholders”.

Kraft Heinz said that average selling prices increased by 15.2 percentage points in Q4, while sales volumes declined by 4.8 percentage points.