(Reuters) – Mondelez International Inc <MDLZ.O> on Tuesday raised its quarterly dividend by 11%, after strong demand for its snacks and chocolates in North America offset sales declines in all of the Oreo maker’s other businesses.
With U.S. and Canadian consumers reluctant or unable to visit restaurants due to COVID-19, sales have surged across the North American packaged food industry.
However, several of Mondelez’s most crucial growth markets – including Brazil, India and Southeast Asia – were hit hard by the pandemic during the second quarter as severe lockdowns closed traditional stores. About two-thirds of Mondelez’s revenue comes from markets outside of North America.
Mondelez, which in April withdrew its full-year outlook, said it still would not provide a forecast due to uncertainty caused by the novel coronavirus. The company did say, however, that it expects currency fluctuations to hurt full-year revenue growth by about 3%, and adjusted EPS by 5 cents.
The company, which also makes Cadbury chocolate and Chips Ahoy cookies, increased its quarterly cash dividend to $0.315 per share of Class A common stock.
Deerfield, Illinois-based Mondelez’s net revenues rose 17.3% in North America to $2.03 billion. Overall revenue fell to $5.91 billion from $6.06 billion, but came in just above market estimates of $5.90 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Excluding certain items, Mondelez earned 63 cents per share in the quarter ended June 30, above analysts’ estimate of 56 cents. Shares of the company were flat in extended trading.
(Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam in Bengaluru and Richa Naidu in Chicago; Editing by Maju Samuel and Richard Pullin)
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