Heinz 1Q Profit Drops But Tops Analysts' Estimates

H.J. Heinz Co. said Thursday that its fiscal first-quarter profit fell 7 percent partly on the stronger dollar, but the results topped analysts' estimates.

The maker of products like Heinz Ketchup and Ore-Ida fries earned $212.6 million, or 67 cents per share, compared with $229 million, or 72 cents per share, a year earlier.

Analysts predicted profit of 62 cents per share, according to a Thomson Reuters survey. Analysts' estimates normally exclude one-time items.

Shares of Heinz rose $1.05, or 2.8 percent, to $39 in premarket trading.

Chairman, President and CEO William R. Johnson said in a statement that some of its core categories were among the strongest performers, including its ketchups and sauces as well as infant/nutrition.

Its top 15 brands globally made up about 70 percent of reported sales, led by its Heinz brand, Ore-Ida potatoes and T.G.I. Friday's snacks and skillet meals.

Heinz has continued to put money toward its marketing efforts as well as some innovations — such as different types of packaging — to keep consumers aware of its brands and spark purchases. The company spent $16 million in upfront costs for new productivity initiatives during the quarter.

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How Wells Keeps Them Satisfied

Using ethnography, which in Wells Fargo's case means visiting messy living rooms to see how customers handle their financial lives, the bank is able to see the real-life role the Web can potentially play in its customers' lives and businesses before making site upgrades or redesigns.

The approach has worked wonders. Wells frequently lands high on lists of Web functionality and consumer satisfaction, recently outranking Google, AT&T, Federal Express and Microsoft on a Brookings Institute ranking of 68 corporate Web sites - the latest in multi-year string of top rankings on lists put out by Gomez, MSN and a host of technology magazines.

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Fiat and Chinese Carmaker Form Alliance

The Fiat Group announced a 50-50 joint venture on Monday with the Guangzhou Automobile Group to make cars and engines for the Chinese market, the latest move by the Italian automaker to expand outside its home market.

The companies said they would build a 173-acre plant in Changsha, in Hunan Province, at a cost of more than 400 million euros, ($556 million), with production set to begin by the end of 2011.Upon completion of the first phase of development, the venture will have the capacity to make 140,000 cars and 220,000 engines a year. The companies said capacity at the plant, which will make fuel-efficient, low-emission vehicles, could eventually be increased to 250,000 cars and 300,000 engines a year.

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Sony Relies on Humor to Counter a Grim Mood

Manning and Timberlake? As in the football star Peyton Manning and the singer Justin Timberlake? Yes, according to a humorous campaign for electronics products sold by Sony.

Mr. Manning, the Indianapolis Colts quarterback, and Mr. Timberlake — of ’N Sync, “Saturday Night Live” and digital shorts too salacious to describe here — are being paired as a comic duo in the campaign, which the Sony Electronics division of the Sony Corporation of America is to formally announce on Tuesday.

Although the campaign, by the Los Angeles office of an agency named 180, takes a light-hearted tack, the rationale behind it is no laughing matter: to stimulate demand during the worst recession in decades for products like camcorders, digital books, TV sets, Blu-ray disc players, notebook computers and cameras.

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