ConAgra Foods Posts In-Line Q4 Earnings, Plans to Exit Private Label Business

reported in-line earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter and announced its plans to exit Private Brands operations. The Omaha, Nebraska-based company reported quarterly net profit of $209.2 million, or $0.48 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $324.2 million, or $0.77 per share. Excluding items, the company's earnings rose to $0.59 per share from $0.55 per share. Its net sales surged to $4.1 billion from $3.96 billion. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $0.59 per share on revenue of $4.14 billion. The average estimate among 18 Estimize users was for earnings of $0.60 per share and revenue of $4.17 billion. Sales for the Consumer Foods segment rose to around $1.9 billion, while operating profit surged to $304 million. Sales for the Commercial Foods segment gained to $1.2 billion, while operating profit increased to $154 million. Sales for the Private Brands segment declined slightly to $1 billion in the quarter, while the segment reported an operating loss of $25 million. During the quarter, ConAgra repurchased around 332,000 shares of common stock for approximately $12 million. Sean Connolly, chief executive officer of ConAgra Foods, said, "With fiscal year 2015 now behind us, we are now pursuing a different plan to maximize value for our shareholders. Our new plan will center on a more aggressive approach to driving margin improvement through SG&A reductions, supply chain efficiencies and other projects. It also sharpens our focus on growing our Consumer Foods and Commercial Foods segments. We expect to continually refine our portfolio with prudent divestitures and acquisitions, and there will be a strong emphasis on deploying capital in ways that benefit shareholders." ConAgra shares gained 2.76 percent to $44.63 in pre-market trading.