July 31 (Reuters) - Kellanova ( K ) missed Wall Street

estimates for second-quarter profit on Thursday on softening

demand for its ready-to-eat breakfast items and snacks including

Pringles and Pop-Tarts, as macroeconomic uncertainty pressures

consumer spending.

WHY IT IS IMPORTANT

Macroeconomic volatility due to U.S. President Donald

Trump's trade tariffs have impacted consumer spending in the

United States, urging budget-conscious consumers to choose

cheaper private labels and increasing competition for

Kellanova's ( K ) name brand products.

Packaged foods peers Conagra Brands ( CAG ) and General

Mills ( GIS ) also flagged weak demand going forward, following

recently softening demand, while others including Kraft Heinz ( KHC )

and Mondelez posted upbeat quarterly results.

CONTEXT

Family-owned candy giant Mars announced a $36-billion deal

to buy Kellanova ( K ) in August last year and has received approval

from U.S. antitrust regulators, while EU counterparts opened a

full-scale investigation in June.

The company now expects the deal to close by the end of

2025.

Kellanova ( K ) is a rebrand of the Kellogg Company's global

snacking business following it spinning off its North American

cereal business into WK Kellogg in 2023.

KEY QUOTE

"Demand softness in most of our categories did not improve

as much as we had hoped," CEO Steve Cahillane said about the

quarter.

"We plan to continue to lean into focused execution in the

second half, even as we continue to work toward closing the Mars

transaction," he said.

BY THE NUMBERS

Kellanova ( K ) reported adjusted profit of 93 cents per share in

the quarter, missing market expectations of 99 cents, according

to data compiled by LSEG.

It reported net sales of $3.20 billion in the three months

ended June 28, nearly in line with analysts' expectation of

$3.19 billion.

The company said prices fell 2.9% in the reported quarter,

while organic sales volumes rose 3.2%, helped by sales in its

Africa noodles business.

MARKET REACTION

Shares of the company were flat in premarket trading.