News
ConAgra to sell private label business
ConAgra says it is going sell its private label business. ConAgra became the largest private label food business in the country when it purchased Ralcorp for $5 billion in 2013. Plagued by a range of problems, sales have fallen nearly six percent in two years. Wall Street Journal reports ConAgra has taken more than $2 billion in write-downs on the private label business.
In making the announcement, Chief Executive Sean Connolly said it had become clear that the time and energy the company is devoting to the private brands was a “suboptimal used of resources.”
The Omaha-based company has been getting pressure from Jana Partners LLC which owns more than 7 percent of ConAgra. The investment firm is demanding a better return on investment and is threatening a proxy battle for seats on the board.
ConAgra reported a fiscal fourth quarter net income of $209 million or 48 cents per share on sales of $4.1 billion. That compares to a $324 million loss in the same period a year ago.
Read more from ConAgra here:
My comment on the sale of Ralcorp. I am an employee at the Dothan Plant. I have been there almost 5 years.It is a nasty plant but nobody cares. The employees there thought when ConAgra came in in we would see changes for the better .ConAgra came in talking the talk THE CONAGRA WAY! We work with broke down equipment beyond repair, more down time than actually run time. How can you profit when the machinery doesn’t run? We have no air conditioning they have been working on it for 5 years now REALLY! They left the same management in the offices that really don’t know how to manage. They sit in nice cool offices or they aren’t there. The Good Ole Boys. They treat the employees like crap. They don’t care that we sweat in the product nor do they care when people get sick from the heat. People have had heat strokes passed out. Do they really expect a profit? Is this the ConAgra Way? ConAgra came listened to all the Good Ole Boys. I bet they got more than a 32 cent raise! They came in putting the money on things that are not helping the employees produce/make them profits. Like I said they don’t care about the employees. It’s all about what they can put in their pockets! The Millions they have spent on our plant on crazy unnecessary things nothing works. That doesn’t make sense. We needed new management!