McCormick reported a rise in third-quarter sales as the spice maker prepares to complete its merger with Unilever's food business.

Summary: McCormick said third-quarter sales jumped 17% to $2.02 billion, beating Wall Street expectations.

McCormick (MKC) reported year-over-year sales growth in its third fiscal quarter as it nears the completion of its acquisition of Unilever's food business.

The condiment company said Thursday that for the quarter ended Aug. 31, net income was $97.6 million, or 36 cents per share, compared with net income of $225.5 million, or 84 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier. Excluding certain one-time items, adjusted earnings per share were 86 cents. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected adjusted earnings of 76 cents per share.

Total sales rose 17% to $2.02 billion, above the $1.98 billion Wall Street had expected, while organic sales edged up just 1.9%.

Sales in McCormick's consumer segment surged 25%, largely driven by incremental revenue from the acquisition of McCormick de Mexico. Organic sales in that segment rose 1%, with price increases offsetting the impact of lower volumes.

The company's flavor solutions division posted an 8% sales increase, with organic growth of 3%.

Chief Executive Brendan Foley said disciplined execution of cost-cutting and efficiency measures offset pressure from higher raw material and freight costs, helping improve margins while allowing the company to keep investing in brand building.

He added that McCormick is still working to complete its merger with Unilever's food business and that integration planning has made significant progress: "We have already built the future management team and operating model, mobilized cross-functional resources and developed a detailed plan to ensure the business runs smoothly after the deal closes and delivers the expected synergies."

Looking ahead, for the full fiscal year ending Nov. 30, McCormick maintained its guidance: adjusted earnings per share of $3.05 to $3.13; net sales expected to rise 13% to 17% year over year, with McCormick de Mexico contributing up to 13 percentage points of that growth. Analysts on average expect full-year adjusted earnings per share of $3.09 and total sales of $7.91 billion, up about 16% from a year earlier.

In premarket trading, the stock rose 3.5% to $48.