Mondelez CEO retiring, company has strong second quarter

Mondelez had a surprisingly strong second quarter thanks to lower costs and improving conditions in Europe and some emerging markets. The food company also announced that it had picked an outsider to lead the company after the retirement of Irene Rosenfeld.

Shares we essentially flat in early trading Wednesday.

Dirk Van de Put, currently president and CEO of McCain Foods, will take over as CEO in November. Rosenfeld will continue as chairman until March 2018, when Van de Put will become chair.

For the three months ended June 30, the maker of Oreo cookies, Cadbury chocolate and Trident gum earned $498 million, or 32 cents per share. A year ago the Deerfield, Illinois, company earned $464 million, or 29 cents per share.

Earnings, adjusted for restructuring costs and one-time costs, were 48 cents per share. That's better than the 46 cents per shat that analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research expected.

Revenue declined to $5.99 billion from $6.03 billion, but still topped the $5.95 billion that analysts polled by Zacks predicted. The company said that its revenue performance was hampered by a malware incident in June that impacted shipments that month.

Mondelez International Inc. anticipates double-digit full-year adjusted earnings growth on a constant currency basis. The company also said that it is raising its quarterly dividend by 16 percent.

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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on MDLZ at https://www.zacks.com/ap/MDLZ

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Keywords: Mondelez, Earnings Report