Shares of the world’s No. 2 confectioner rose 5.04% to US$43.7 in extended trading on Wednesday as the company’s Power Brands business registered fourth straight quarter of gains.

The business, which houses Cadbury, Milka and Trident Gum, reported second-quarter sales of US$4.55 billion, a 5.2% rise from a year earlier. It accounted for nearly 75% of its total revenue.

Mondelez’s performance comes at a time when food packaging companies are facing a number of challenges ranging from higher transportation costs to consumers’ growing preference for healthier foods.

The company has been opening more efficient manufacturing plants and implementing zero-based budgeting, which requires expenses to be justified for each new period, as part of plans to cut about US$3 billion in costs by the end of 2018. These efforts drove adjusted gross profit margin up 60 basis points to 40.4%. Net income attributable to the company fell to US$323 million, or 22 cents per share, in the second quarter ended June 30 from US$498 million, or 32 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company earned 56 cents per share, beating analysts’ estimates by 2 cents, according to Thomson Reuters.

Net revenue rose about 2% to US$6.11 billion, but fell marginally short of estimates.