ConAgra Foods Inc. said its nationwide recall of peanut butter will cost between $50 million and $60 million, hurting its third-quarter earnings.
ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE:CAG) presented a company update to the Consumer Analyst Group of New York at that group’s annual conference in Scottsdale, Ariz. In his remarks, ConAgra Foods CEO Gary Rodkin assess the progress of the company’s key initiatives, discuss its current priorities and offer an outlook for the next several years. In addition, the company provided a preliminary estimated charge of $50 million to $60 million, or approximately $0.06 – $0.08 per share, for the current quarter related to the recent peanut butter recall.
ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE:CAG), is one of North America’s leading packaged food companies, serving grocery retailers, as well as restaurants and other foodservice establishments. Popular ConAgra Foods consumer brands include: Banquet, Chef Boyardee, Egg Beaters, Healthy Choice, Hebrew National, Hunt’s, Marie Callender’s, Orville Redenbacher’s, Reddi-wip, PAM and many others.
Prior to consideration of any impact of the peanut butter recall, management expected H2 FY 07 diluted EPS, excluding comparability items, in the range of $0.62 to $0.67 per share. This includes approximately $0.01 per share from the impact of share repurchases. The timing and amount of items impacting comparability in the second half makes a more detailed reconciliation of expected FY07 diluted EPS impracticable.
Management expects the peanut butter recall to result in $50 million to $60 million of increased expense in the fiscal third quarter, which is not reflected in the statistics released; management will provide a more detailed estimate of the impact with its third quarter earnings release on March_22, 2007.