Weekly Food Industry Report: July 19, 2013

Every week, we take a look into some of the biggest financial news to emerge from the world of food. Here is this week's:

Hostess Brands: In the wake of Twinkies and CupCakes returning to shelves, Hostess Brands is experiencing record demand for products: their sales are seven times greater than historic levels already, and orders are three to six times greater than production capacity. Numerous stores told Hostess their product sold out within hours of being displayed.

WhiteWave Foods: WhiteWave Foods Company announced an offering to the pricing of the 29.9 million shares of Class A common stock at $17.75 per share. The offering is expected to end July 25. Additionally, WhiteWave Foods reported their preliminary second quarter 2013 fiscal results, anticipating a 28% increase per share at $0.16. Operating income will allegedly increase 16% to $46 million. Net sales are expected to increase 10%, and the company expects a 13% net sales growth in Europe.

Restaurant Sales: Black Box Intelligence and People Report released a Restaurant Industry snapshot for June, reporting flat overall sales: same-store sales did not rise or fall, compared to an 0.8% increase in May, and 0.4% increase in April. Same-store traffic results actually declined 2.5%. While these results might be disappointing, consumer willingness to spend in restaurant seems to be heightened from May.

Yelp: Yelp announced on July 18 that it will acquire SeatMe, a service that enables restaurants to manage their waitlists and allow online reservations, for $12.7 million. The motive behind Yelp's purchase is to supposedly overtake OpenTable, the dominant tool in making reservations online currently, and building up SeatMe's repetoire, which only has 100 restaurants over OpenTable's 28,000.

Armanino Foods: Armanino Foods reported record quarterly sales and earnings. Net sales for their second fiscal quarter 2013 increased 2% to $7.24 million. Operating income has increased 6%, as well as earnings per share to $0.027 at 8%. Despite the fact that their international sales were down in the first half of 2013, they are proud of the company records they set domestically.

Chipotle Mexican Grill: Chipotle Mexican Grill announced the financial results for the second quarter of the fiscal 2013 year. Overall revenue increased 18.2%, comparable restaurant sales increased 5.5% and their net income rose 7.6%. Diluted earnings per share were at $2.82, an increase of 10.2%, as well as an additional 44 new restaurants opened, making the total 1,502.

SUPERVALU: SUPERVALU reported their first quarter results for the fiscal 2014 year. Their net sales were at $5.16 billion, net earnings of $85 million, and $0.34 per diluted share. They had a lot of strong accomplishments on the business front: closed sales on five retail banners, refinanced $400 million in bonds and extend their maturity to 2021, reduced the rate of sales decline, decentralized retail operations, and lowered administrative costs.

ForeverGreen: ForeverGreen, a leading provider of nutritonal foods and health products, announced their evergrowing sales. Their second quarter 2013 sales have increased 40% since last quarter, from $2.7 million to $3.8 million. CEO Ron Williams says the company is confident that sales will continue to trend higher in the upcoming quarters, as well as hopefully grow by 30-35% at the end of the year.

Fresh Del Monte: Fresh Del Monte Produce announced they will report their fiscal 2013 second quarter results in an issued press release prior to the market opening on July 30. CEO and Chairman Mohammad Abu-Ghazaleh will also host their quarterly conference call at 11:00 am to discuss the financial results of the company, accompanied by Senior Vice President and CFO Richard Contreras, and Christine Cannella, Assistant Vice President, Investor Relations.

Frozen Food Express: Duff Brothers Capital agreed to acquire all outstanding shares of common stock of Frozen Food Express, a temperature-controlled truck carrier, for $38.2 million. If approved by the company's shareholders, the sale will be at $2.10 per share and it will hopefully close by late August or early September.  

Heinz Company: Heinz Company announced that the company's fiscal 2013 results could only be reviewed on a listen-only call. CFO Paulo Basilio and Senior Vice President Marcos Romaneiro will host the call on July 22 at 8:30 am.

ConAgra Foods: ConAgra Foods announced their approved dividend payment of $0.25 per common share to be paid to stockholders on August 30, but the close of business is set for July 31. 

We're always on the lookout for tips about the week's financial news, so if you think there's any that we have missed, let us know!