(Reuters) - Mondelez International Inc <MDLZ.O> on Wednesday reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit as it sold more Cadbury chocolates and Oreo biscuits in Europe and North America, while keeping a lid on costs.

Shares of the world's No. 2 confectioner rose 5.04 percent to $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 $4.55 billion, a 5.2 percent rise from a year earlier. It accounted for nearly 75 percent 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 $3 billion in costs by the end of 2018.

These efforts drove adjusted gross profit margin up 60 basis points to 40.4 percent.

Net income attributable to the company fell to $323 million, or 22 cents per share, in the second quarter ended June 30 from $498 million, or 32 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company earned $56 per share, beating analysts' estimates by 2 cents, , according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

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

(Reporting by Indranil Sarkar and Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)