The Hillshire Brands Co. reported results for the third quarter and first nine months of fiscal year 2014. Third quarter net sales grew 3.4% to $955 million. Adjusted operating income grew 34.8% to $97 million; reported operating income grew 18.3% to $76 million.
"The tremendous progress we have made in strengthening our brands and reducing costs is unmistakable. Despite an unusually inflationary input cost environment, we meaningfully improved our core business fundamentals and have increased our operating margins. Underlying this performance is the work we have done to improve our capabilities in areas like innovation, pricing analytics and marketing, as well as our robust productivity programs," said Sean Connolly, president and CEO of The Hillshire Brands Company.