A clear and focused strategy, continued.
Some of our strategic growth opportunities will show tremendous potential right away, while others will take time and further investment to grow. Because we manage our business for long-term performance with realistic targets, we have the flexibility to make strategic investments that strengthen the health of our company. Late in 2007 we made acquisitions relating to Bear Naked Inc., maker of all-natural granola and trail mixes, and Gardenburger brand.
Our emerging markets growth strategy moved forward significantly in 2007. We grew our ready-to-eat cereal market share in Turkey to 22%. Before our 2006 joint venture with local Turkish food distributor, Ülker, our market share was just 2%. We are actively exploring other international alternatives and have identified Eastern Europe and Asia as areas where we can enter developing markets with immediate scale and distribution capabilities.
Early in 2008 we acquired The United Bakers Group (UB), one of Russia's largest cracker, cookie and breakfast cereal producers. UB's products, marketed primarily under the Yantar and Lyubyatovo brands, are a good strategic fit with the Kellogg portfolio and expand our presence in international snacks and cereal markets.
This acquisition is a long-term investment that provides Kellogg with a tremendous platform for growth in a large and fast-growing market. We will leverage Kellogg Company's brand-building and innovation expertise, our understanding of the biscuit and ready-to-eat cereal categories, with UB's existing manufacturing, sales and distribution infrastructure to drive continued strong growth of this business. We have stringent criteria for assessing growth opportunities, and this investment was selected for its ability to create value in the long term and contribute to the sustainable, dependable growth of Kellogg Company.
2007 summary.
Our business model and our focused strategy served us well in 2007. Throughout the year, Kellogg people around the world successfully managed difficult external challenges – unprecedented commodity price increases and continued tough competition – and delivered another year of strong earnings and increased shareowner value. Each quarter of 2007, Kellogg Company was faced with higher input costs, and each quarter we were able to grow our business and increase our investment in cost-efficiency projects. We raised our 2007 annual earnings guidance twice during the year and ultimately delivered solid results. This performance speaks to the power of our business model, and we remained focused on it despite the added challenges. In 2007, we continued to reinvest into our businesses through increased brand building and additional cost-saving projects. We continued to invest wisely in key growth opportunities in strategic categories and geographies. Our innovation pipeline continues to be substantial and dynamic.
