Packaged and canned foods might not be selling at the same panic-buying levels they were early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, but B&G Foods (BGS 0.40%) says they're continuing to grow at such a high rate that it expects its full-year results to "materially exceed" the guidance it gave back in February.
In the meantime, the owner of the Green Giant, Cream of Wheat, and Ortega brands said Q2 sales jumped 38% to $512 million, ending up with a slightly lower growth rate than the 57.6% sales surge B&G experienced during the first two months of the quarter.
Image source: B&G Foods.
Stocking up
When the COVID-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic, people cleared out store shelves of most consumer basics, including canned goods, water, toilet paper, sanitizer, Lysol, and more.
There remain shortages of some of these goods in many locations, and president and CEO Kenneth G. Romanzi said B&G "employees have done a fantastic job ensuring that our supply chain has been able to meet an unprecedented increase in demand for our products."
The consumer packaged goods company said certain brands experienced sales volumes well above normal: Green Giant products soared over 45% in the quarter, Ortega jumped 37%, and Cream of Wheat rocketed 54% higher.
Because of the uncertainty the coronavirus continues to pose, especially on the supply chain, B&G Foods can't offer any more granular guidance for the third quarter and beyond. Still, the company did say it expects net sales and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization to exceed the high-end growth forecasts it gave at the end of its last fiscal year (1.2% and 3.5%, respectively).
