Dive Brief:
- Despite being busy with its Green Giant acquisition in progress, B&G Foods is open to other acquisition opportunities in the near future, said president and CEO Bob Cantwell on the company's third-quarter earnings call.
- B&G expects to close the Green Giant acquisition in the fourth quarter, and Cantwell said that "late winter, early springtime is perfect for us" to pursue more acquisitions.
- Net sales rose 2.1% to $213.3 million, which included positive sales results from Mama Mary's pizza crust brand, which B&G acquired in July. Those sales offset continued weakness for B&G's Rickland Orchards brand.
Dive Insight:
"We certainly want to absorb and transition Green Giant in over the next number of months, but we are not going to not look at something that comes to market that would make sense for B&G, either," Cantwell said.
Upon completion of the acquisition, B&G expects to double the current marketing spend for Green Giant and has started adding to its marketing department to be able to manage the new business and spend.
"The acquisition is expected to be immediately accretive to earnings per share and free cash flow," Food Business News reported.
B&G's earnings for the quarter were up to $19.8 million from a $4.4 million loss for the same period last year. That growth was attributed to higher prices and lower transportation costs.