Campbell Soup's acting CEO told shareholders Thursday morning the company is making meaningful progress in turning itself around, but cautioned that efforts to refocus and streamline the food giant are still in early stages.
Keith McLoughlin, the interim president and CEO保证an estimated 50 shareholders at the company's annual meeting near Philadelphia尽管有proxy contest with investor Daniel Loebdominating recent discussions, executives have "not been distracted from our mission turning around a business and maximizing shareholder value."
"There aresignificantchangeshappeningat your company," McLoughlin said at the meeting. "We are pleased with the pace of our progress, but by no means are we declaring victory. This is thebeginning。我们认识到，更多的工作在我们面前。这turnaroundof the Campbell's Soup Company is underway."
这nearly 150-year old soup company has been mired in challenges随着消费者远离加工的物品，例如罐装汤，它努力通过收购（例如螺栓农场和花园新鲜美食）来扩展到新鲜食品等领域。八月，坎贝尔汤宣布了一项三个加强计划，以改善公司：加强其零食，餐饮和饮料的核心业务；剥离非核心资产；并从业务中节省成本。
While many of the shifts in consumer preferences impacting Campbell Soup are being felt throughout the food industry by other well-established businesses, the company's recent stumbles and depressed share price have attracted investors like Loeb to agitate for change. The hedge fund manager, who has a roughly 7% stake in Campbell's Soup, hascriticized the company's board for failing to act fast enoughto turnaround its iconic soup business.
"We are pleased with the pace of our progress, but by no means are we declaring victory. This is the beginning. We recognize that much more work lies ahead of us."
Keith McLoughlin
临时总裁兼首席执行官坎贝尔汤
Loeb initially called for a sale of the company and a removal of the entire 12-person Campbell Soup board — which included three descendants of the founder who, along with another family member not on the board, control 41% of the company's stock. Loeb scaled back those demands to five nominees, and then again to twofollowing a deal with the companyannounced Monday.
While the deal falls short of the sweeping overhaul he initially sought, it gives Loeb some representation on the board and a way tobe more closely involvedwith the company as it aims to revive its business and undertake other key steps like appointing a new CEO.
Campbell Soup has noted Third Point lacked a concrete plan to turnaround the CPG giant, and said many of the changes proposed by Loeb were already underway before he became involved.
股东的担忧
Several shareholders attending the meeting Thursday peppered the acting CEO and other executives for information on Campbell Soup's efforts to combat growing private label adoption, the cost for the company to engage in the months-long proxy fight with Loeb, and its e-commerce presence. But some — many of whom have owned stock in Campbell Soup for decades or worked for the company — expressed trepidation and uncertainty about its future.
"I think the company is obviously at a very critical inflection point and the industry itself is clearly struggling,"Phil Lippincott, a Florida resident who has owned Campbell Soup shares for more than 30 years, told Food Dive. "关于公司从现在开始的10，20年将要弄清楚并找到一条道路，这是一个真正的问题 - 显然，他们仍然可以是独特而独特的。目前尚不清楚这将会发生。”
Last week, Campbell Soup, which is under pressure to execute on its turnaround plan and expand its newly bulked-up snack business following the $4.9 billionacquisition of Snyder’s-Lance,posted a drop in profit during its first quarter。Comparable sales fell 3% compared to a year ago, and margins tightened amid rising costs. But the company said it is starting to see "improved trends" in U.S. soup, a return to sales growth in V8 and "continued solid performance" in Campbell Snacks.
这soup maker announced in May thatformer CEO Denise Morrison was stepping down七年后掌舵,undertake a three-month strategic review of its business. In August, it shared plans to tosell its fresh business and international operationsto pay down debt, reduce costs and focus its attention on its U.S. snacks, soups and drinks operations. Campbell Soup isreportedly in discussions with Mondelez Internationalto sell Arnott's Biscuits,which makes Tim Tams,和Kelsey Group, a producer of butter cookies.
"I think the company is obviously at a very critical inflection point and the industry itself is clearly struggling. There is a real question as to where the company is going to be 10, 20 years from now and it needs to figure it out now and find a path — obviously one where they can still be unique and distinctive. It's not clear yet that that's going to happen."
Phil Lippincott
Shareholder, Campbell Soup
Campbell Soup is expected to divest these operations sometime during the first half of the year, using the proceeds to pay down debt and invest its core business.
McLoughlin reaffirmed that a new CEO will be appointed before the end of 2018. Earlier this week,这Wall Street Journal reportedthatfood-industry veteran and former Pinnacle Foods CEO Mark Clouse was the leading candidate to be its next chief executive — though the paper cautioned there is no guarantee he will be the pick or even accept the position.
Sam Yake, a shareholder who lives a few miles west of Philadelphia, said he is closely watching the CEO appointment and the progress the company makes in revitalizing many of its well-known brands.
"It's a great iconic company, but it's in sort of a pathetic state right now,"Yake told Food Dive."It's sad that it got to this point, such a great company. It's a warning signal that even if you got a great company, you have to manage it right all the time or it can drift into a dangerous situation. That is what happened here. Of course they can turn themselves around, but they need to make major changes."
