Food Processing Magazine Ranks The Top 100 Food Manufacturers In The U.S. And Canada

Aug. 14, 2011 - PRLog -- PepsiCo Inc., thanks to its acquisition of its two largest independent bottlers, leapfrogged three other food manufacturers to become the largest food & beverage processor in the U.S. and Canada, according to the Food Processing Top 100, published in the August issue of Food Processing magazine.

Perhaps the biggest news in this year’s Top 100 table is the number of companies that recorded net losses during 2010: There was only one. “We haven’t had only one company reporting a net loss for the year in at least eight years -- and maybe much longer,” says Dave Fusaro, Food Processing’s editor in chief. “That tells me that while most of American manufacturing was struggling with the 2010 economy, food & beverage manufacturers had their houses in order and recorded a pretty good year.”

The magazine’s annual Top 100 list, published in the August issue and available on http://www.foodprocessing.com, ranks the largest food & beverage manufacturers according to 2010 sales, qualified by a number of criteria.  

PepsiCo (this year at $35.6 billion in U.S.- and Canadian-manufactured food products—out of total worldwide revenues of $57.8 billion) unseated Nestle USA & Canada ($29.6 billion), which held the title for the past two years. Rounding out the top five are Kraft Foods Inc. ($29.5 billion), Tyson Foods Inc. ($27.3 billion) and Anheuser-Busch ($15.3 billion).

“The biggest news in this year’s table is the number of companies that recorded net losses during 2010: There was only one!” says Dave Fusaro, Food Processing’s editor in chief.

“Dole Food Co. (No. 17) got caught between lower banana production worldwide and weaker pricing, and the company lost $30 million, even though sales increased by nearly 2 percent. [Only 62 of the companies report net income – the private ones do not.] We haven’t had only one company reporting a net loss for the year in at least eight years -- and maybe much longer.”

A number of animal protein companies returned to profitability in 2010 after sinking into red ink in 2009. Tyson Foods (No. 4) turned a $551 million loss into a $765 million profit. Smithfield Foods (No. 10) did similarly. Ditto for No. 18 Pilgrim’s Pride, which emerged from bankruptcy protection in 2009, thanks to a 67 percent buy-in by JBS.

Sixty-three of the Top 100 companies had higher sales in 2010 than they had in 2009, and 40 also increased their net incomes – 22 went down in income.

Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo chairman and CEO, could have been speaking for most of these companies when she wrote in her company’s annual report of being mindful of “three realities”:

+ A weak consumer landscape given the poor macroeconomic picture, especially the high level of unemployment in key developed markets.
+ High levels of cost inflation for the coming year [2011], driven by broad and pronounced commodity inflation.
+ A potentially difficult competitive pricing environment.

While the biggest sales increase in dollars belonged to PepsiCo, percentage-wise, the biggest increase was recorded by No. 63 AdvancePierre Foods – up 117 percent. Why? Because a year earlier it didn’t exist. Pierre Foods, with sales of about $600 million, languished in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection until its investors merged it last September with Advance Foods and some other properties to create a $1.3 billion company. The new company is owned by funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management LP, current Advance shareholders and members of the company's leadership team.

Imperial Sugar Co. (No. 81) sales shot up 74 percent, largely because its Port Wentworth, Ga., refinery came back on line, after that 2008 explosion. But sales also were helped by three interesting joint ventures – with PureCircle to blend sugar and stevia; with Edward Billingtons & Sons to market agave; and with Cargill Inc. and Sugar Growers & Refiners Inc. to build a new refinery in Gramercy, La.

No. 41 Pinnacle Foods also jumped, up 48 percent, largely due to its billion-dollar 2010 acquisition of former No. 78 Birdseye Foods. No. 6 JBS USA, which just burst on the North American scene in 2007 with its acquisition of Swift & Co., grew another 21 percent, thanks in part to its purchase of Smithfield Beef Group (the Dept. of Justice blocked its proposed acquisition of National Beef Packing Co.).

Smucker and Ralcorp both added about $200 million in sales due to acquisitions. Hormel Foods recorded 11 percent sales growth largely on organic (the business term, not the agricultural term) growth.

The Top 100 table includes 2010 and 2009 sales and income figures. The report on the web site also features a story on mergers and acquisitions in the food industry and profiles of all 100 companies, including their executives and the brands they own.

+ See the table at http://www.foodprocessing.com/top100
+ Read the accompanying article: http://www.foodprocessing.com/articles/2011/top100compani...

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