Rise in at-home cooking boosts Kraft Heinz third quarter sales

(Reuters) – Kraft Heinz Co beat quarterly revenue expectations on Thursday, as consumers cooking at home bought more of its packaged foods and condiments.

With restrictions on movement imposed to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, people around the world bought more groceries during the period, helping the company record sales growth across all its businesses.

Kraft, known for brands from Philadelphia cream cheese to Heinz ketchup, said third-quarter sales grew 6% to $6.44 billion, beating analysts’ average estimate of $6.32 billion, according to Refinitiv data.

Organic sales, which strips off impacts from M&A and currency fluctuations, rose 6.3%, in line with the company’s expectations of mid-single digit growth.

The company said it expects mid-single-digit organic sales growth to continue in the fourth quarter.

(Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Arun Koyyur)