By Jesse Newman

Kraft Heinz said quarterly sales fell 4.1% from a year ago and its prices crept higher.

For the fourth quarter, the maker of sliced cheese and ketchup said sales volumes slid by 4 percentage points from a year earlier, while prices increased by 1 percentage point.

Kraft Heinz said Wednesday it raised prices on certain products to mitigate its own higher costs.

The company said lower sales volumes were driven by shifting consumer behavior amid uncertain economic conditions and a decline in its business in restaurants and other institutions. North America reported the heaviest volume declines.

"While we have much more work to do, I am confident in our strategy," said Carlos Abrams-Rivera, Kraft Heinz's chief executive, adding that 2024 was "a challenging year."

The company's stock fell 4% in premarket trading.

Big food companies are struggling as consumers reject high grocery prices and scrutiny grows over processed food. Kraft Heinz pulled Lunchables from U.S. school menus last year, unwinding a bet that had drawn opposition from some school-meal officials and child-nutrition advocates.

-- Kraft Heinz reported fourth-quarter sales of $6.6 billion, slightly below what Wall Street analysts polled by FactSet had expected. Comparable sales fell 3.1%.

-- The food maker's adjusted profits of 84 cents a share came in above the 78 cents Wall Street analysts had anticipated.

-- For 2025, Kraft Heinz expects organic sales to be flat to down 2.5% versus the year prior. Adjusted earnings are seen in the range of $2.63 to $2.74 a share.

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February 12, 2025 07:50 ET (12:50 GMT)

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