Kraft profit up, sees long-term Cadbury boost

The maker of Oreo cookies and Velveeta cheese said fourth-quarter earnings rose to $710 million, or 48 cents a share, compared with $178 million, or 12 cents a share, a year earlier, which included costs tied to Kraft's restructuring program.

Analysts on average forecast 45 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 3.2 percent to $11 billion. Organic revenue, which excludes currency moves and recent asset purchases and sales, rose 0.4 percent, hit by a decline in dairy costs that led the company to lower cheese prices.

Kraft concluded a nearly five-month long battle to acquire Cadbury when it agreed on Jan 19 to up its offer to $19.6 billion.

At that time, the company said expected the Cadbury deal to hurt 2010 results. On Tuesday, Kraft said it was targeting an addition of 5 cents per share to earnings from the deal on a cash basis in 2011 and long-term EPS growth of 9 percent to 11 percent from the combined company.

Kraft shares fell 32 cents to $28.77 in premarket trading.

(Reporting by Michele Gershberg; Editing by Derek Caney)