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Non-Tech : CPB Campbell soup -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MoneyPenny who wrote (2)	6/28/1999 1:30:00 PM
From: Zoltan!	Respond to of 7

Bad move. Have you bought a can of their soup lately? Or their bread for that matter? Campbell has raised prices to the moon and people are buying alternatives. Even the Pepperidge Farms stores have followed suit. There is one here in Connecticut near a Toys"R"us and I went in while the others bought toys. I wondered why the place was deserted and soon realized why: they had substantially raised prices. Bread that had gone for @ 2 for $2.59 was now $1.79 each. I walked out w/o buying a thing - I can do better at my local market, so who would bother to make a special trip? I'll bet others have made the same decision. As for soup, everyone I know has found a better canned product in Progresso. Higher quality for about the same price. Campbell has priced itself out and now faces precisely the same problems that the cereal makers did: people will find alternatives and not return. Don't believe the warm weather mumbo-jumbo. Something's got to give, and the market will force them to cut prices or lose share and volume. And as owners of Kellogg's know, that ain't a pretty picture. All my opinion, of course.

To: MoneyPenny who wrote (2)	9/3/1999 8:07:00 AM
From: Zoltan!	Respond to of 7

The Wall Street Journal -- September 3, 1999 Marketing & Media: Campbell Soup's Profit Sags 57%, Missing Estimates ---- By Shelly Branch Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal CAMDEN, N.J. -- Despite attempts to reheat sales with increased promotional spending, Campbell Soup Co. reported disappointing fiscal fourth-quarter results. For the quarter ended Aug. 1, the food company said net income fell 57% to $79 million, or 18 cents a diluted share, from $182 million, or 40 cents a diluted share a year ago. The company said the results include 10-cents-a-share costs in restructuring expenses and nonreccuring items. Excluding those special items, Campbell remained a penny below analysts' expectations as compiled by First Call/Thomson Financial. Those forecasts had already been lowered after the company's warnings in June. In a conference call, some analysts said they were skeptical about expenses related to researching acquisition candidates being classified by the company as nonrecurring and not a normal part of doing business. Asked about analysts' concerns regarding the one-time items, a Campbell spokesman said: "Our view is that these are one-time, nonrecurring events." In New York Stock Exchange trading, Campbell fell 68.75 cents to $43.5625. Sales, which declined slightly to $1.296 billion from $1.299 billion, were aided in part by Campbell's nonsoup brands such as Pepperidge Farm and Godiva chocolates. While other packaged-food companies are battling weak sales and pressure from consoldating retailers, Campbell's sustained problems are among the industry's worst. "Fiscal 1999 has been a difficult year of transition," conceded Dale F. Morrison, president and chief executive. But "the year was even weaker than the numbers showed," said Nomi Ghez, an analyst with Goldman Sachs & Co. She noted that U.S. shipments of canned soup, which account for 51% of earnings, were down 2% in the quarter. While that's better than the double-digit decline analysts were expecting, it came at a cost. To achieve it, analysts said, Campbell had to revert to an inventory practice that encouraged retailers to stock up before a July price increase. The company achieves higher volumes but some retailers could again be stuck with bloated inventories and even reduce subsequent orders from Campbell. Another disappointment: International soup shipments -- an area that Campbell had cited as particularly promising -- were noodle-flat for the quarter and the year, excluding acquisitions. Despite the quarter's performance, Campbell remains upbeat about the appetite for soup in the U.S. The company notes that consumption is up 2% for the second year in a row, and it is testing what it calls several new "promising" varieties, such as "ready-to-serve" soups in resealable plastic containers and "Campbell's Plus," a line of soups fortified with vitamins, calcium and minerals. Analysts are looking for a different recipe for growth. "They've got to get out of the can, with more contemporary products," said John McMillin, an analyst with Prudential Securities in New York. interactive.wsj.com