Dive Brief:
- ConAgra Foods Inc. announced a 1.1% increase in revenue last quarter, but its profit tumbled to a net loss of $1.24 billion. The year before, ConAgra had reported a profit of $482.3 million.
- The net loss came from charges related to ConAgra's private brands sector, which the company reclassified as discontinued operations due to a planned divestiture of the business.
- Without those charges and other one-time items, ConAgra's per-share profit increased to 45 cents from 39 cents last year.
Dive Insight:
"In the near-term, we expect to grow profits modestly in fiscal 2016 across the Consumer Foods and Commercial Foods segments by building on the stronger foundations established last fiscal year, with an emphasis on improving price/mix and implementing relentless cost discipline," said CEO Sean Connolly in a news release.
Private brands may have meant a loss this quarter, as it had in previous quarters, but after their divestiture, profitability could return to ConAgra, which outlined a new cost-cutting strategy in its previous earnings report along with the planned divestiture. The company has been under fire from an investor to cut costs and ties with its private brands, which ConAgra bought from Ralcorp in 2012.
All these changes have come under the direction of CEO Sean Connolly, who took the helm in March, including changes to the executive team, such as the departure of CMO Joan Chow.
ConAgra also announced that it had updated all of its U.S. and Canadian facilities to use Bisphenol A (BPA)-free packaging only, as of July 30.