Sara Lee posts 2nd-quarter profit
CHICAGO, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Sara Lee Corp (SLE.N) on Wednesday posted a second-quarter profit versus a year-earlier loss as the weaker dollar, new products and increased spending on marketing helped boost sales.
The maker of Sara Lee baked goods, Jimmy Dean sausage and Hillshire Farm deli meats said profit was $182 million, or 25 cents a share, for its second quarter ended Dec. 29 compared with a loss of $62 million, or 8 cents a share, a year earlier.
The earnings come even as Sara Lee, like most food companies, copes with soaring costs for commodities like wheat. The company has raised prices to try to mitigate the cost increases.
Sara Lee shares closed at $13.97 on Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock is down almost 20 percent from a year ago compared with a 9.6 percent drop in the Standard & Poor's packaged foods index .15GSPFOOD. (Reporting by Brad Dorfman, editing by Mark Porter)
