Kellogg's net income edged up in the third quarter, as the breakfast giant benefited from its acquisition of Pringles chips.
The Michigan based company bought the brand earlier this year in hopes of becoming a global player in the salty snacks market.
The deal instantly made Kellogg the world's second biggest salty snack food company, behind only PepsiCo's Frito-Lay.
Since Pringles gets two-thirds of its revenue from overseas, Kellogg is also hoping the deal gives it inroads into the international markets where the ranks of people with more disposable income are growing.
"While it's early, we remain optimistic regarding the potential of this iconic brand," chief executive John Bryant said in a statement.
During the third quarter, Kellogg said a stronger than expected performance by Pringles offset costs it incurred related to a Mini-Wheats recall last month. The cereal recall, combined with rising costs for ingredients and increased spending on brand building, reduced the company's core operating profit by 5%. The measure excludes results from Pringles.
For the three months to the end of September, Kellogg said it earned $296m, or 82 cents a share, in the quarter. That compares with $290m, or 80 cents a share, a year ago.
The company said that integration costs hurt its results by four cents a share, and the recall reduced results by 6 cents a share. Not including such items, analysts on average expected a profit of 81 cents a share.
Total revenue rose 12% percent to $3.72 billion, above the $3.7 billion analysts expected. Not including the impact of the Pringles acquisition and other items, Kellogg said its key North American unit grew sales by nearly 4%.
Its breakfast foods and Kashi unit posted sales growth of 5%. International sales rose 15% to $1.3 billion, but sales of core brands rose just 1%.
The struggling European unit saw a decline of 2.5%, but the company noted that was an improvement from the previous quarter.
Kellogg stood by its guidance for the year, with earnings expected to range between $3.18 and $3.30 a share. But it said operating profit will fall between 4-6% as a result the Mini Wheats recall. Kellogg recalled the cereal because of the possible presence of a flexible metal mesh from a faulty manufacturing part.
