Dive Brief:
- Campbell Soup Co. has made a number of changes to its strategic initiatives as well as its sales and earnings outlook for the year ahead of an upcoming investors meeting.
- Beginning in Q1 of fiscal year 2016, Campbell will begin reporting in accordance with the three-category structure the company announced it would split its overall business into: Americas Simple Meals and Beverages, Global Biscuits and Snacks, and Campbell Fresh, which includes Campbell's Bolthouse Farms portfolio and the recently announced acqusition of Garden Fresh Gourmet.
- Campbell also adjusted its fiscal 2015 outlook to include a -2% to -1% decline in adjusted EBIT, as opposed to the previously estimated -7% to -5% decline, and a flat to -1% decrease in EPS, as opposed to the previously estimated -5% to -3% decrease. This is in addition to the 1% dip in sales already noted in previous guidance.
Dive Insight:
Campbell is also continuing is cost-cutting initiative that had an initial target of $200 million in three years, but the company is saving more quickly than it had anticipated. Campbell has revised that target to $250 million after now expecting about $75 million in savings from these cost-cutting measures in fiscal 2015.
Campbell is one of several major food companies that has implemented cost-cutting measures due to the decline in consumer demand for processed foods. However, with Campbell's ability to adjust some of its outlook for the year while implementing a new organizational structure, this could be hopeful for the company and other food and beverage companies who can determine their own ways to return to profitability as this trend takes hold and the nature of the industry begins to shift.