While profits of other leading companies in the world have slowed down, ConAgra Foods Inc. reported higher-than-expected profits for the quarter and stated that its consumer food business started to recover. The net income of the company in the first quarter rose to $484.5 million or $1.12 per share which ended on August 24 while the net income of the year earlier was $147.2 million or $0.34 per cents which means a really huge difference and a good sign of success for ConAgra.
The large gain of ConAgra was the company’s flour mill operations’ joint venture with Cargill Inc.’s agribusiness which was then called Ardent Mills.
Its profits from continuing operation excluding special items were $0.39 per share when analysts expected an average of $0.35 making the company exceed forecasts.
The revenue of ConAgra went low at 0.4% equivalent to an amount of $3.7 billion when the sales of the consumer food segment including brands such as Chef Boyardee, Healthy Choice and Orville Redenbacher’s experienced a 1% decline. Of course, this is without forgetting the ConAgra’s food segment performance has improved a lot compared to the last few quarters.
While Chief Executive Officer Gary Rodkin is still trying to help the company with the planning of cost-savings programs, there are reports from ConAgra that the chief executive will be retiring in May next year which is the end of the fiscal year.
Rodkin has been heading ConAgra for almost 10 years and has been pressured by shareholders to fix the issues that resulted from its buyout of Ralcorp for $5 billion last year.
The acquisition of Ralcorp helped make ConAgra the largest food manufacturer in the U.S but the business actually struggled on its own to meet profits targets.
JP Morgan analyst Ken Goldman stated on a research note that the overall results of the sale of Ralcorp were positive with both commercial and consumer segments sales being better than forecasted.
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