Mondelez Logs Higher 1Q Sales, Maintains Full-Year Outlook

By Kelly Cloonan

Mondelez International posted higher sales in the first quarter despite a decline in North America, while profit took a hit from what its chief executive called unprecedented cocoa costs.

The Chicago snacking company, which makes Oreo cookies and Ritz crackers, also backed its outlook for the year.

Mondelez on Tuesday posted a profit of $402 million, or 31 cents a share, down from $1.41 billion, or $1.04 a share, a year earlier.

Stripping out one-time items, earnings per share were 74 cents, ahead of estimates of 66 cents a share according to analysts polled by FactSet.

Revenue rose 0.2% to $9.31 billion. Analysts expected $9.32 billion.

Sales climbed 5.4% in Europe and 3.4% in its Asia, Middle East and Africa segment, helping offset declines of 8.8% in Latin America and 4.1% in North America.

Organic sales, which exclude the effect of acquisitions, divestitures and currency fluctuations, increased 3.1% from last year, driven by higher prices.

Mondelez attributed the profit drop primarily due to a mark-to-market impact from commodity and currency derivatives. The company also said its profit margin was depressed due to higher raw material and transportation costs, as well as an unfavorable product mix, which was offset by higher prices and lower manufacturing costs due to productivity.

The company maintained its previous full-year outlook, guiding for organic revenue growth of about 5% and adjusted earnings per share to decline around 10% due to cocoa cost inflation.

"Our Q1 pricing and share performance, along with the global strength of our categories, provide us with continued confidence in our full-year outlook," Chief Executive Dirk Van de Put said.

Write to Kelly Cloonan at kelly.cloonan@wsj.com