Heinz Profits Up While Campbell Soup Looks to Milk Warhol Again

Food product manufacturer and marketer H.J. Heinz

reported a higher-than-expected profit on Wednesday for the first quarter ending July 29. The company, world famous for its soups, ketchup and baked beans, said that growth in emerging markets, improved sales in North America and Australia, higher prices and a favorable tax rate are the major reasons for the good quarter. According to a

, Heinz delivered its 29th consecutive quarter of organic sales growth of 4.8%. The aforementioned emerging markets delivered 19.3 percent organic sales growth and represented percent of total sales. On Tuesday, CEO William R. Johnson had told shareholders to expect strong results, saying that the company achieved growth in earnings per share in the quarter “despite the headwinds of a still weak economy and adverse foreign currency trends that reduced EPS by around four cents. Overall, our strong first-quarter results put Heinz on track to deliver our previously announced outlook for Fiscal 2013.” Profit from continuing operations came in at 87 cents per share while analysts were expecting 81 cents per share. Meanwhile, the Campbell Soup Company

revealed this week that it is going to be bringing back the world-renowned and iconic Andy Warhol Campbell Soup image for limited edition can packaging. Warhol became infamous in the ‘60s thanks to his “Factory” approach to art – he would have a team of workers on an assembly line, churning out prints of iconic images. He is perhaps best known for his Marilyn Monroe and Campbell Soup paintings. His idea was to create new art out of images already ingrained in the public's mind. Quite how he would feel about his work being used in a marketing campaign 30 years later is a mystery. Back in the ‘60s, the company actually considered taking legal action against Warhol, but it quickly saw the advantages of letting the work exist. “There's some evidence to show there was a little bit of concern,” said Jonathon Thorn, an archivist for Campbell Soup, to the

. “But they decided to take a wait-and-see approach.” Things worked out pretty well for both parties, as things turned out. On Wednesday, Cambell Soup Company traded at about $35.20, down roughly 0.8 percent. H.J. Heinz traded at about $56, down roughly 2.3 percent.