February 3, 2006

ConAgra to sell big slice of refrigerated meats business
 

ConAgra Foods announced plans to sell a large chunk of its refrigerated-meats business, marking Chief Executive Gary Rodkin's latest effort to streamline the company's disparate portfolio. ConAgra's refrigerated-meats business has annual sales of about US$1.9 billion.

The planned sale includes some of ConAgra's best-known brands, like Butterball turkey, Armour and Eckrich. The company, based in Omaha, Nebraska, said it expects negotiations on the sale of its refrigerated-meats business to take as long as a year.

The sale does not include ConAgra's Healthy Choice, Hebrew National, Slim Jim and Pemmican brands. For the fiscal year ended in May 2005, ConAgra had sales of $14.6 billion and net income of $641.5 million.

Last week ConAgra announced that Smithfield Foods Inc. would acquire most of its Cook's refrigerated-ham business.

These developments are part of Mr. Rodkin's goal of turning around ConAgra, a company handling more than 100 far-flung brands.