Dive Brief:
- Chiquita Brands International reported a net loss of $62.5 million for 2014, accredited mostly to $51 million spent attempting to merge with Fyffes, which failed, and its acquisition by Cutrale-Safra, Eurofruit reported.
- If those transaction costs are removed, Chiquita still reports a net loss of $11.5 million, but this is an improvement over 2013's net loss of nearly $16 million and 2012's net loss of $405 million, according to The Packer.
- Chiquita still remained a top player in the bananas industry, sitting in the No. 2 market position in North America. Bananas, which comprised 65% of the company's net sales in each of the past three years, saw net sales in 2014 of more than $2 billion, a 2.6% jump over the prior year, The Packer reported.
Dive Insight:
According to The Packer, Chiquita had a variety of initiatives meant to "reduce risk and improve operating efficiencies in our core businesses as we executed our return to the core strategy." These included exiting "several non-core healthy snacking businesses that generated operating losses and distracted management from its core businesses of bananas and salads."