Milling & Baking News Corporate Profiles - 2019 - 100

COMPANY OVERVIEW

Mondelez International
Striking a balance between global and local brands
ondelez International, Inc., Deerfield,
Ill., sees large opportunities in smaller
brands. The company, which spun off
from Kraft Foods (now part of Kraft Heinz) seven years ago, became one of the world's largest snack-centric businesses largely by focusing
on growing its "power brands" such as Oreo
and Ritz.
While large global brands remain a key area
of focus, the company also is looking to secondary and niche businesses to grow its top and
bottom lines.
Mondelez's portfolio features nine global
brands, including Oreo, Milka, Halls, Tang, Trident, Philadelphia, belVita, Cadbury and Toblerone, which represent 45% of total sales.
Local brands represent 55%.
"For us to be successful, we cannot just be
focused on 45% of the portfolio," said Dirk Van
de Put, chief executive officer. "We need to find
balance."
To strike this balance, Mondelez is casting an
eye toward bolt-on acquisitions and mediumsized investments. Areas of focus include wellbeing snacks and ingredients, premium snacks
and ingredients, and digital platforms and capabilities.
In April, the company took a minority stake in

Hu Products and Hu Kitchen, a snack company
that manufactures clean label, paleo-inspired
products. In March, Mondelez purchased a minority stake in Uplift Food, an early-stage startup focused on prebiotic functional foods. The
transaction marked Mondelez's first venture investment as part of SnackFutures, an innovation
hub created to unlock snacking growth opportunities. The company also acquired a majority
interest in refrigerated nutrition bars and bites
maker Perfect Snacks.
"M.&A. for us is about opportunities of getting into new geographies, potentially, where
we can get a route to market that would unlock
the potential of some of our brands," said Luca
Zarmella, executive vice-president and chief
financial officer. "It is about going into highgrowth markets. It is about getting into adjacencies and tapping more into opportunities
that are premium, well-being or that provide
solutions digitally."

Mondelez has found success with its acquisitions
of Tate's Bake Shop, Enjoy Life Foods and the Vietnamese brand Kinh Do. But Mr. Van de Put said
finding such bolt-on acquisitions is challenging,
and the company is placing an equal emphasis on
its internal innovation pipeline.
Innovation throughout Mondelez's portfolio
is driven by the snack manufacturer's updated
consumer research methodology, which includes a "snacking database" based on interviews with approximately 170,000 consumers.
The database allows developers to evaluate
how consumers snack across different emotions
or functional needs and occasions.
The fruits of the company's research efforts
can be seen in the growing momentum in its
billion-dollar legacy brands. Oreo and Cadbury,
for example, are growing at or close to doubledigit rates.
Mr. Van de Put said he believes such momentum is sustainable.
"We found a way to better understand how
to position the brands toward (the) consumer
at the right moment and then accompany that
with good communication," he said. "On top
of that, I think we've discovered that we can
adapt the local range or the local flavors much
better than we've done in the past." CP

Chief executive officer -
Dirk Van de Put

Mondelez International, Inc.
net earnings

Mondelez International, Inc.
net revenues

Mondelez International
share price

per share

$1,669

$2,842

$3,395

2016

2017

2018

100 \ November 2019

in millions

$59
$53

$25,923

$25,896

$25,938

$47
$41

2016

2017

2018

$35
Oct.
2018

Dec.

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Milling & Baking News Corporate Profiles - 2019

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