Latest news with #MakeAmericanHealthyAgain
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Incoming Hershey CEO faces wall of challenges, not least cocoa
Fresh perspective might just be what the doctor ordered - in this case the board of Hershey bringing in a new CEO almost a year before incumbent Michele Buck was due to retire from the confectionery and salty snacks maker. Buck's hands have largely been tied over the last 18 months or so by historically high cocoa prices, with limited options but to keep increasing prices and suffer the impact on confectionery volumes, which dropped a whopping 18% in the first quarter based on a positive three percentage points in price. Hershey can arguably ill-afford to keep suffering such pain when its confectionery brands such as Reese's and Rolo generated more than 80% of the $11.2bn in total group revenue last year, especially when salty snacks demand remains subdued in the US as consumers trim discretionary spending amid still-high living costs. Cocoa futures prices have at least come off the record highs reached in December but are currently still more than double what they were in July 2023. And until prices come down to more conservative levels, incoming CEO Kirk Tanner will have his work cut out to avoid raising prices in confectionery further. If he does, he may just have to stomach the loss of volumes. And early indications for the 2025/26 cocoa harvest season suggest a significant correction in prices is not on the cards anytime soon. Tanner's food industry credentials largely lie in snacks and beverages, fostered during a 30-year stint at PepsiCo, another US giant in the salty snacks category that has also been feeling the pinch from stretched consumers. He spent the last 18 months as CEO of the fast-food chain Wendy's and was obviously tempted by a new challenge at Hershey given such a short shift. And a challenge it looks set to be with many of the hurdles to be circumnavigated beyond his immediate control. A case that held true for Buck too, who Tanner will replace as president, chairman and CEO on 18 August, with the retiring chief acting in a senior advisory role to guide the new man at the top through the ropes. Cocoa prices and the consumer-induced pressure on salty snacks sales have already been mentioned, but then add to the equation the rising popularity of the GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, the Make American Healthy Again campaign being waged by the Trump entourage and his reductions in SNAP benefits. John Baumgartner, a managing director at Japanese investment bank Mizuho Securities, said the appointment of Tanner at least brings 'clarity' on the executive front and removes an uncertainty that threatened to linger until Buck's planned retirement next June. Tanner's appointment, and his experience in snacks, beverages and his record on innovation, 'provides an encouraging foundation for new perspectives', Baumgartner wrote in a research note. However, Alexia Howard, a food analyst at AllianceBernstein, warned the US investment bank has concerns that 'similar pressures will continue to pressure performance in the indulgent snacking space'. She added: 'In particular, increases in GLP-1 use as pill versions emerge in 2026, as well as the elimination of candy from SNAP spending in some states, could be negatives.' Hershey's first-quarter results for fiscal 2025, announced in May, were emblematic of the pressures, despite this year's timing of the Easter celebrations, which in some countries often involve chocolate consumption. Net sales dropped by 13.8% year-on-year on a reported basis to $2.8bn and were down 13.2% in organic terms. Volume/mix fell 15% as prices were increased by two percentage points during the quarter. Organic confectionery sales in North America declined 15.2% to $2.3bn as volume/mix fell 18% on the back of a three percentage-point increase in price. The much smaller salty snacks division – brands such as SkinnyPop popcorn and Pirates Booty - for the same region saw organic sales rise 1% to $277.8m, with volume/mix growth of 4% and negative price of three percentage points. Hershey's international sales were comparative with snacks but with a very different performance outcome – sales down 7.9% at $227.5m, volume/mix retreating by 8% and price a positive one point. The telling story is in Hershey's share price, which has fallen 12% on the New York Stock Exchange in the past year, while adjusted diluted EPS in the opening quarter slid almost 32% to $2.09. However, more than halfway into 2025, the stock is down only 3% and last traded at $164.64. For 2025 as whole, Hershey expects net sales growth of 'at least 2%' but with adjusted EPS likely to be down in the 'mid' 30% range. Whether Hershey chooses to amend that outlook when the second-quarter results are issued at the end of July remains to be seen but Howard suggests Tanner may tweak the longer-term guidance. 'As an outsider coming into a company that has been troubled by sharp increases in cocoa input costs and weak volume trends in recent years, it seems plausible that Mr Tanner will take the opportunity to rebase earnings expectations downwards for next year,' she wrote. 'If this were to happen, it would be a markedly different trajectory from the hypothetical 6%-8% EPS growth (consistent with the company's long-term earnings growth algorithm) that the company presented at the CAGNY conference in February if cocoa input costs were to remain at 2025 levels.' Marley Robinson, an analyst at Just Food's parent company GlobalData, suggests cocoa prices could bounce back up to last year's unprecedented levels if there's another poor cocoa harvest, a scenario that if materialises is likely to test Tanner's mettle soon after he takes the hotseat at Hershey. 'Pod counters in the Ivory Coast have suggested that the upcoming 2025/26 season will see a 10% decline in output. These forecasts are based on elevated mortality rates of flowers and cherelles (young pods), which have occurred despite supportive weather conditions,' Marley says. 'With low cocoa stocks, prices could go back to the highs seen in December 2024 or even higher if we get another poor cocoa harvest.' Meanwhile, Baumgartner at Mizuho wrote that the slope of Hershey's volume declines is likely to moderate but emphasised how 'stubborn cocoa inflation and tariff/health & wellness uncertainties remain limiting factors for visibility into sales and EPS'. Baumgartner added: 'We expect strategic emphasis to remain on consumer segmentation and customer partnerships and, although we believe the long-term growth algorithm is secure in theory (net sales growth of 2-4% and EPS growth of 6-8%), we would be unsurprised to see larger brand-building investments at the outset of Mr Tanner's tenure.' The food-sector analyst explains his theory to Just Food on consumer segmentation by suggesting Tanner might want to 'drill down' on different consumer segments in terms of demographics – how and where they shop, how and where you market to them, what marketing is most effective and how much individuals buy on promotion. 'Not just making one Reese's for the entire country,' he says. 'Hershey's innovation of the last couple of years hasn't been incremental to the category or to the brand. It's probably been more cannibalistic, which is part of the reason it has lost market share consistently,' Baumgartner argues. 'Anybody coming in as an outsider is going to have some fresh perspectives and different experiences that they may be able to apply, whether it's innovation, marketing, supply chain, or whatever.' While the Mizuho MD infers the Bubble Yum and Jolly Rancher's gum brand owner's investment in marketing has not kept up with inflation in the past couple of years, he also says pricing taken by food manufacturers in general, including Hershey, has gone a stretch too far. That, in itself, presents a challenge for volume recovery. Baumgartner suggests prices in a large proportion of food categories have gone up by around 30% since 2021, including confectionery and salty snacks, while food-at-home inflation has climbed about 17% when US household incomes have only gone up by circa 13%. 'You raise the price at double the rate of household income growth. Chocolate in the US has always been a low price point and an impulse purchase but given where prices have gone, it's not really a low-price category anymore,' Baumgartner says. 'We've seen a number of instances where we've had companies reduce prices and volumes have responded fairly quickly.' "Incoming Hershey CEO faces wall of challenges, not least cocoa" was originally created and published by Just Food, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. 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Axios
30-05-2025
- Health
- Axios
White House moves to fix errors in MAHA commission report
The White House moved Thursday to correct false citations and other errors in a high-profile report from a panel led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., HHS confirmed to AP. The big picture: The Make American Healthy Again commission report that that blamed factors including bad diets and unnecessary medication for causing chronic illness in children cited hundreds of studies and sources, some of which didn't exist, NOTUS first reported. The White House on Thursday afternoon uploaded an updated version. What they're saying: "I understand there were some formatting issues with the MAHA report that are being addressed and the report will be updated," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a press briefing Thursday. "But it does not negate the substance of the report, which, as you know, is one of the most transformative health reports that has ever been released by the federal government." HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in an email to AP that "minor citation and formatting errors have been corrected." Zoom in: The report was developed in little more than three months and contained mainstream ideas combined with highly controversial elements, including doubts about the current childhood vaccine schedule. Epidemiologist Katherine Keyes, who was listed as author of a study on adolescent anxiety, told NOTUS she didn't write the paper that was referenced and was surprised to hear of the citation. Kennedy didn't detail who wrote the report but the 14-member commission is supposed to craft a strategy for how the federal government should respond under an executive order President Trump issued in February.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Loomer targets new Trump surgeon general pick
Laura Loomer, a right-wing provocateur and prominent supporter of President Trump, has set her sights on Dr. Casey Means, the physician-turned-wellness influencer who Trump tapped as his new nominee to be U.S. surgeon general on Wednesday. In a series of posts on social platform X that began shortly after Trump's announcement, Loomer accused the president's advisers of poor vetting and attacked Means's background. 'This is honestly insane,' she wrote in one post Thursday morning. 'I do not believe for one second that Donald Trump made this decision. I refuse to believe it.' Loomer went on to label chronic-disease entrepreneur Means, a close ally of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the 'Make American Healthy Again' — or MAHA — movement, a 'Marxist tree hugger.' 'PRESIDENT TRUMP'S PICK FOR US SURGEON GENERAL CASEY MEANS SAID SHE PRAYS TO INANIMATE OBJECTS, COMMUNICATES WITH SPIRIT MEDIUMS, USES SHROOMS AS 'PLANT MEDICINE' AND TALKS TO TREES! SHE ALSO DOESN'T EVEN HAVE AN ACTIVE MEDICAL LICENSE,' Loomer wrote between two red alert emojis. Trump announced Wednesday that he had pulled his nomination of Dr. Janette Nesheiwat to become surgeon general, amid questions over her credentials, and replaced his initial pick with Means. '[Means's] academic achievements, together with her life's work, are absolutely outstanding,' Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social about the swap. 'Dr. Casey Means has the potential to be one of the finest Surgeon Generals in United States History.' Loomer, who was widely credited with Nesheiwat's downfall as well as the firings of multiple national security aides last month, quickly shifted her attacks to the new surgeon general nominee. 'This is so embarrassing for the Trump administration. They chose a social media influencer who sells supplements who didn't even support Donald Trump to be the US Surgeon General,' she wrote in another post. 'Who is doing the vetting?????' 'There is something rotten in the Trump vetting operation,' she added in the thread. Loomer has tagged the social media accounts of Trump, Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and multiple conservative influencers in various posts against the new surgeon general nominee. Kennedy, in a post Thursday morning on X, championed Trump's nomination of Means, saying she 'was born to hold this job.' 'She will provide our country with ethical guidance, wisdom, and gold-standard medical advice even when it challenges popular orthodoxies. She will be a juggernaut against the ossified medical conventions that have helped make our people the sickest in the world at the highest cost per capita,' he wrote. 'Casey is a breath of fresh air, and we can't wait for her to get started.' HHS spokesperson Kush Desai, in a statement shared with The Hill, echoed the Health chief's defense. 'Over 77 million Americans resoundingly re-elected President Trump to smash our country's broken status quo and restore American Greatness – and that includes Making America Healthy Again,' Desai said. 'Dr. Casey Means has the ideal balance of elite credentials without the baggage of being beholden to a corrupt healthcare system that has profited from America's chronic disease epidemic.' The White House didn't immediately respond to The Hill's request for comment. Calley Means, the nominee's brother who works for HHS, defended his sister in an online post directed at Loomer, highlighting her background as a 'Stanford educated physician' and her efforts 'to inspire others to leave the medical system and reform it.' 'She is the single best person in the world on connecting the dots behind our chronic diseases crisis — and her reason for existence is to help President reverse these trends,' he wrote. 'She worked to encourage [Kennedy] to support Trump and we went on Joe Rogan with the specific intention to convince undecided MAHA voters to support Trump.' Loomer has demonstrated her ability to influence top level White House staffing decisions in the past. She met with the president in the Oval Office a day before the administration fired multiple White House National Security Council staff members in early April. The right-wing advocate has also faced backlash for entertaining 9/11 conspiracy theories and spreading anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric. She traveled with Trump aboard his campaign jet last fall on trips to New York and Pennsylvania to mark the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Asked about her role in his political sphere last fall, Trump said, 'Laura is a supporter. I don't control Laura; she's a free spirit.' Updated at 11:23 a.m. EDT. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
08-05-2025
- Health
- The Hill
Loomer targets new Trump surgeon general pick
Laura Loomer, a right-wing provocateur and prominent supporter of President Trump, has set her sights on Dr. Casey Means, the physician-turned-wellness influencer who Trump tapped as his new nominee to be U.S. surgeon general on Wednesday. In a series of posts on social platform X that began shortly after Trump's announcement, Loomer accused the president's advisers of poor vetting and attacked Means's background. 'This is honestly insane,' she wrote in one post Thursday morning. 'I do not believe for one second that Donald Trump made this decision. I refuse to believe it.' Loomer went on to label chronic-disease entrepreneur Means, a close ally of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the 'Make American Healthy Again' — or MAHA — movement, a 'Marxist tree hugger.' 'PRESIDENT TRUMP'S PICK FOR US SURGEON GENERAL CASEY MEANS SAID SHE PRAYS TO INANIMATE OBJECTS, COMMUNICATES WITH SPIRIT MEDIUMS, USES SHROOMS AS 'PLANT MEDICINE' AND TALKS TO TREES! SHE ALSO DOESN'T EVEN HAVE AN ACTIVE MEDICAL LICENSE,' Loomer wrote between two red alert emojis. Trump announced Wednesday that he had pulled his nomination of Dr. Janette Nesheiwat to become surgeon general, amid questions over her credentials, and replaced his initial pick with Means. '(Means's) academic achievements, together with her life's work, are absolutely outstanding,' Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social about the swap. 'Dr. Casey Means has the potential to be one of the finest Surgeon Generals in United States History.' Loomer, who was widely credited with Nesheiwat's downfall as well as the firings of multiple n national security aides last month, quickly shifted her attacks to the new surgeon general nominee. 'This is so embarrassing for the Trump administration. They chose a social media influencer who sells supplements who didn't even support Donald Trump to be the US Surgeon General,' she wrote in another post. 'Who is doing the vetting?????' 'There is something rotten in the Trump vetting operation,' she added in the thread. Loomer has tagged the social media accounts of Trump, Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and multiple conservative influencers in various posts against the new surgeon general nominee. The White House and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) didn't immediately respond to The Hill's requests for comment. Calley Means, the nominee's brother who works for HHS, defended his sister in an online post directed at Loomer, highlighting her background as a 'Stanford educated physician' and her efforts 'to inspire others to leave the medical system and reform it.' 'She is the single best person in the world on connecting the dots behind our chronic diseases crisis — and her reason for existence is to help President reverse these trends,' he wrote. 'She worked to encourage (Kennedy) to support Trump and we went on Joe Rogan with the specific intention to convince undecided MAHA voters to support Trump.' Loomer has demonstrated her ability to influence top level White House staffing decisions in the past. She met with the president in the Oval Office a day before the administration fired multiple White House National Security Council staff members in early April. The right-wing advocate has also faced backlash for entertaining 9/11 conspiracy theories and spreading anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric. She traveled with Trump aboard his campaign jet last fall on trips to New York and Pennsylvania to mark the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Asked about her role in his political sphere last fall, Trump said, 'Laura is a supporter. I don't control Laura; she's a free spirit.'
The Hill
07-05-2025
- Health
- The Hill
Trump pulls surgeon general nominee
President Trump has pulled his nomination of Janette Nesheiwat to be U.S. Surgeon General and chosen chronic disease entrepreneur Casey Means, a physician with close ties to the 'Make American Healthy Again' movement, as his new pick to fill the role. Nesheiwat's credentials came into question last month when CBS News reported that records showed she had graduated from the American University of the Caribbean (AUC) School of Medicine, and not the University of Arkansas School of Medicine, as had been said when her nomination was announced. The physician and former Fox News contributor also got on the wrong side of influential Trump supporters including MAGA influencer Laura Loomer. The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions was scheduled to hold a hearing Thursday on Nesheiwat's confirmation. Casey Means, a graduate of Stanford Medical School, is the sister of Calley Means, a close ally to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and a special government employee at HHS. They are both high-profile proponents of Kennedy's MAHA agenda. 'I am pleased to announce that Dr. Casey Means, will be nominated as our next Surgeon General of the United States of America. Casey has impeccable 'MAHA' credentials, and will work closely with our wonderful Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to ensure a successful implementation of our Agenda in order to reverse the Chronic Disease Epidemic, and ensure Great Health, in the future, for ALL Americans,' Trump wrote on Truth Social. 'Her academic achievements, together with her life's work, are absolutely outstanding,' he added. 'Dr. Casey Means has the potential to be one of the finest Surgeon Generals in United States History. Congratulations to Casey!' Trump wrote Nesheiwat would work in 'another capacity at HHS.' Means is the co-founder of Levels, a health technology company that focuses on tracking health information through devices like continuous glucose monitors. In a post on the social media platform X, Calley Means wrote of his sister's nomination 'I am so proud of her and know she will help the President and @SecKennedy change the world.' He also reposted Casey Means's interview with Joe Rogan in which she spoke about the prevalence of conditions like autism, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease and cancers among Americans. In that interview, she claimed all these conditions were all caused by 'metabolic dysfunction,' saying the answer was 'obvious'
