Hershey to divest Scharffen Berger and Dagoba premium chocolate brands

 

“These are great brands that continue to resonate with consumers, but they require a different go-to-market model that we believe is better supported by other owners,” she said. “The actions will enable us to prioritize our recently acquired scale assets within salty snacks and nutrition bars.” The company tracked double-digit lifts across grocery and snack items, including chocolate syrup, baking chips, cocoa and popcorn during the pandemic weeks.

The company’s confectionery business, however, has struggled as shoppers limit visits to convenience and drug stores, said Buck. Net sales in the first quarter ended March 29 increased 1% to USD 2.04 bn from USD 2.02 bn. North America net sales rose 2.1% to USD 1.84 bn, while International and Other sales tumbled 8.1% to USD 192.5 m. Net income attributable to The Hershey Co. was USD 271.14 m, down 11% from USD 304.36 m.

“While we still have an opportunity to capture impulse purchases at checkout in other classes of trade, the significant changes we've seen in overall trips and basket size, over the past several weeks, has limited the amount of flowback we've seen to other classes of trade,” Buck added. “In addition, the gum and mint category has been significantly impacted by social distancing. These categories are much more functional than emotional, and they've experienced declines of 40% to 50% over the past several weeks.”