beverages

Chinese President Xi Jinping has a vision to distribute wealth more equally across the country. Investors are sobering up to what that could mean for the companies that make the nation’s beloved fiery booze.Mr. Xi recently doubled down on his plans for “common prosperity” during China’s weeklong Communist Party congress in October. Investors are worried that this could portend an industry crackdown, or simply be bad for the future sales of luxury baijiu distillers and companies that sell…

Mondelez International Inc. MDLZ 0.63% raised its full-year outlook as consumers continue to absorb higher prices for its snacks, though extra costs took a chunk out of its bottom-line in the third quarter. The Chicago-based maker of Oreo cookies and Triscuit crackers said sales rose 8.1% to $7.76 billion in the latest quarter, driven by higher pricing and volume. It also started to log sales following its acquisitions of energy bar…

The Justice Department is investigating how poultry companies pay their chicken farmers, the latest move by the government to clamp down on an industry payment system that has been criticized by some farmers. Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. PPC 2.92% the second-largest U.S. poultry processor by sales volume, said in a regulatory filing on Thursday that it learned earlier this month that the Justice Department had opened a civil probe into…

Witthaya Prasongsin | Moment | Getty ImagesBeer is taking up less of the American booze market as beverage companies flood the market with buzzy new drink categories, including ready-to-drink cocktails.Even legacy beer companies have expanded outside of their staple beer products with innovations for spirits drinkers.Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest brewer, has diversified its portfolio to include hard seltzers, canned wine and canned cocktails. Molson Coors dropped the "Brewing Co" from its name in 2019 to…

LONDON— Unilever UL -0.71% PLC raised its full-year sales forecast after the consumer-products giant pushed through record price increases of 12.5% in the third quarter. The maker of Dove soap and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream on Thursday reported a 10.6% rise in underlying sales growth for the quarter, driven by higher selling prices, with sales volumes declining 1.6%. Companies across the consumer-goods industry are raising…

Any stock that doubles in five years, outperforms tech giants over three years and beats more than 450 companies in the S&P 500 this year is clearly worth studying. And there is no better time to look at one of the biggest winners of a terrifying market than Halloween. One of the many curious aspects of Hershey is that people who intuitively understand its business aren’t adults. They’re children. To be specific, they’re children around Hershey, Pa., which is among the world’s greatest places for…

Some of the world’s largest grain companies posted better-than-expected profits and raised their financial outlooks for the year, thriving off crop shortages and global volatility.Two of the largest farm giants that dominate global grain trading and processing, Archer Daniels Midland Co. ADM 2.60% and Bunge Ltd. BG 6.99% , said this week that despite fears about a recession, demand for their grain, biofuels and…

Kraft Heinz Co. KHC 1.48% posted higher sales during the latest quarter after raising prices to offset surging costs. The Pittsburgh-based maker of Kool-Aid and Jell-O said sales rose 2.9% to $6.51 billion in the third quarter, as it pushed prices 15.4% higher from a year ago in a bid to manage rising input costs. Analysts polled by FactSet had been expecting $6.27 billion. The company reported a drop in volume from the…

Coca-Cola Co. KO 2.30% raised its outlook for sales and profit for 2022, but said it was introducing packages at lower price points as it prepares for a global recession. The beverage company’s revenue increased 10% for the quarter ended Sept. 30, as consumers continued to absorb higher prices. Coca-Cola’s prices were 7% higher, on average, than in the same period last year, said the company’s finance chief, John…

Soaring inflation has already strained home buyers, drivers at the gas pump and people buying plane tickets.Now it’s coming for shoppers in the Halloween candy aisle, too.Candy prices are up more than 13% from a year ago, according to the Labor Department, the largest-ever yearly jump for candy. Surging labor costs and skyrocketing flour and sugar prices have helped fuel the increase, candy makers say. Customers say they have been experiencing sticker shock in the candy aisle this month as they reckon with an unfamiliar…