Tasty sales down 7.4%, improved 4Q projected

Net sales declined 7.4 percent to $40.4 million for Tasty Baking Co. in the third quarter, which the company blamed in large part on production limitations at its new bakery in Philadelphia.

Charles P. Pizzi, Tasty Baking president and chief executive officer, said those limitations had been resolved by the end of the quarter and are not having a material impact on the company now.

"The quarter ended on a much more positive note than it began," Pizzi said on a conference call with analysts.

The maker of Tastykake cakes and pies completed its move into a new bakery that it leases in the Navy Yard in South Philadelphia from its previous home for more than 80 years in the city's Hunting Park neighborhood in the spring.

Tasty Baking said it will attain operational efficiency improvements at the new bakery by the end of the fourth quarter to meet the $13 million in annual pretax cash savings that management had previously projected.

Net loss widened to $4.9 million, or 61 cents per share, during the quarter ended Sept. 25 from the loss of $531,000, or 7 cents per share, for the third quarter of 2009.

Shares of Tasty Baking were up 29 cents, or 4.6 percent, to $6.61 in trading shortly after noon.