Kraft Heinz stock drops to its lowest-ever price

 On Aug. 8, Kraft Heinz reported dismal numbers for the first half of 2019 on Thursday, including a 54.6% drop in operating income, a decline in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of 19.3%, and a sharp reduction of 23.8% in earnings per share, all compared to the first half of 2018. 
The company also reported a USD 1.2 billion impairment charge based on extended projections in international markets and losses of stock value. It was Kraft Heinz's first earnings report since the February bombshell when it reported a $12.6 billion net loss, slashed its dividend more than 36% and disclosed an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission into its procurement accounting and control policies.

On the same date, the processed food giant withdrew all of its existing future guidance. CEO Miguel Patricio, who has been on the job for about 40 days, said he doesn't feel comfortable establishing targets right now — and short-term goals don't help achieve bigger aims. He outlined a sweeping agenda to focus the company more on growing its top and bottom line. 

Sales were also down 4.8% for the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2018. While part of this drop was due to unfavourable currency exchanges, CFO David Knopf said on the earnings call that some of the blame was due to retailers that significantly and unexpectedly decreased the amount of products they carried.

Source: fooddive.com