ST. LOUIS — Boosted by the impact of recent acquisitions, earnings for Ralcorp Holdings, Inc. were up 5% during the third quarter.

For the quarter ended June 30, the company had earnings of $29.8 million, equal to 54c per share on the common stock, which compared with income of $28.3 million, or 51c per share, in the same period a year ago. Sales for the quarter were $1,026.2 million, up 11% from $927.8 million during the same quarter of the previous year.

The Cereal Products Segment had an operating profit of $14.8 million, down 36% from $23.2 million during the same quarter of the previous year. Sales for the quarter were $195.4 million, down 10% from $217.1 million.

The Snacks, Sauces and Spreads segment had an operating profit of $32.9 million, up 27% from $26 million during the same quarter of the previous year. Sales for the segment were $427 million, up 11% from $383 million.

The Frozen Bakery Products segment had an operating profit of $21.5 million, unchanged from the same quarter of the previous year. The segment had sales of $253.7 million, up 35% from $187.3 million.

Recent acquisitions completed during fiscal 2012 included the North American private brand refrigerated dough business of Sara Lee Corp., Pastificio Annoni S.p.A., Petri Baking Products, Inc. and Gelit S.r.l.

For the nine months ended June 30 the company as a whole saw earnings decline 36% to $117.6 million, or $2.13 per share, which compared with $182.9 million, or $3.33 per share, during the same period of the previous year. Sales for the nine months were $3,254.9 million, up 16% from $2,796.8 million.

Earlier this month, Ralcorp initiated a strategic restructuring of its business “to improve organizational effectiveness and reduce costs.” As part of the effort, Ralcorp will consolidate its Cereal, Pasta, and Snacks, Sauces & Spreads businesses into a single center-store private brand food company. The company was expected to elaborate on the initiative later today in a conference call with analysts.