Conagra Brands Enters Into a Definitive Agreement with High Liner Foods to Divest the Van de Kamp's® and Mrs. Paul's® Brands
- Sale proceeds of $55 million will be used to reduce company debt
- Strategic divestiture allows better focus on core frozen offerings
- Clean transaction structure - includes only IP and inventory, without manufacturing facilities or employee obligations
- Removal of underperforming assets as brands only contributed $75M to FY2024 sales
- Expected negative impact of ($0.01) on FY2026 adjusted earnings per share
- Loss of revenue stream from established brands in the frozen seafood category
- Sale price represents less than 1x annual sales of the divested brands
Insights
Conagra's $55M divestiture of seafood brands improves portfolio focus while having minimal earnings impact despite losing $75M in annual sales.
Conagra Brands is selling its Van de Kamp's and Mrs. Paul's frozen seafood brands to High Liner Foods for
The transaction structure is notably efficient—Conagra is selling the intellectual property and inventory without transferring employees or manufacturing facilities. This asset-light divestiture allows the company to shed non-core products while retaining production infrastructure that likely supports other product lines. The company's commitment to using proceeds for debt reduction aligns with broader deleveraging objectives referenced in their forward-looking statements.
This move follows the classic portfolio optimization playbook for mature food companies—divesting smaller, standalone businesses to concentrate resources on core offerings with better growth potential. While the
Divestiture Supports Conagra's Efforts to Reshape its Portfolio
"This divestiture reflects our continued commitment to reshaping our portfolio and investing where we see the best opportunities for growth and innovation," said Sean Connolly, president and chief executive officer of Conagra Brands. "Van de Kamp's and Mrs. Paul's operate largely as a stand-alone seafood business, and this divestiture allows us to further focus our efforts on strengthening our core frozen offerings."
Van de Kamp's and Mrs. Paul's are leading brands in the
About Conagra Brands
Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE: CAG), is one of
Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws that provide our current expectations and beliefs concerning future events including the timing and impact of the proposed transaction and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and factors relating to the transaction and our business and operations, all of which are difficult to predict and could cause our actual results to differ materially from the expectations expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties, and factors include, among other things, risks related to the timing and ability to satisfy the closing conditions for the proposed transaction, the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstance that could delay the closing of the proposed transaction and other risks related to our business and operations such as: general economic and industry conditions, including inflation, reduced consumer confidence and spending, recessions, increased energy costs, supply chain challenges, increased tariffs and taxes, labor cost increases or shortages, currency rate fluctuations, and geopolitical conflicts; our ability to deleverage on currently anticipated timelines, and to continue to access capital on acceptable terms or at all; the company's competitive environment, cost structure, and related market conditions; our ability to execute operating and value creation plans and achieve returns on our investments and targeted operating efficiencies from cost-saving initiatives, and to benefit from trade optimization programs; the availability and prices of commodities and other supply chain resources, including raw materials, packaging, energy, and transportation, weather conditions, health pandemics or outbreaks of disease, actual or threatened hostilities or war, or other geopolitical uncertainty; our ability to respond to changing consumer preferences and the success of our innovation and marketing investments; actions by our customers, including changes in distribution and purchasing terms; our hedging activities and ability to respond to volatility in commodities; disruptions or inefficiencies in our supply chain and/or operations; the impact of any product recalls and product liability or labeling litigation; our co-manufacturing arrangements and other third-party service provider dependencies; actions of governments and regulatory bodies that affect our businesses; a material failure in or breach of our or our vendors' information technology systems and other cybersecurity incidents; pension, labor or people-related expenses; any future goodwill or intangible assets impairment charges; our ability to protect our intellectual property rights; and other risks described in our reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no responsibility to update these statements, except as required by law.
For more information, please contact:
MEDIA:
Media@conagra.com
INVESTORS:
Matthew Neisius
IR@conagra.com
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SOURCE Conagra Brands, Inc.
FAQ
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