Kellogg revenue misses estimates as North America sales stay weak

(Reuters) - Kellogg Co , the world's largest maker of breakfast cereals, reported lower-than-expected quarterly sales due to continued weakness in North America, sending its shares down 1 percent in premarket trading.

The company reported a net income of $818 million (501 million pounds), or $2.24 per share, for the fourth quarter ended December 28 compared with a loss of $32 million, or 9 cents per share, a year earlier.

Kellogg earned 83 cents per share, excluding items.

Revenue fell 1.7 percent to $3.50 billion. Sales in North America were down 2.8 percent in the fourth quarter.

Analysts on average had expected the company to earn 82 cents per share on revenue of $3.53 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

(Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in Bangalore and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Kirti Pandey)