Consumer Staples
Packaged Foods
$12.07B
14K
The Campbell's Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets food and beverage products in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Meals & Beverages and Snacks segments. The Meals & Beverages segment engages in the retail and foodservice businesses in the United States and Canada. This segment provides Campbell’s condensed and ready-to-serve soups; Swanson broth and stocks; Pacific Foods broth, soups, and non-dairy beverages; Prego pasta sauces; Pace Mexican sauces; Campbell’s gravies, pasta, beans, and dinner sauces; Swanson canned poultry; V8 juices and beverages; Campbell’s tomato juice; Rao's pasta sauces, dry pasta, frozen entrées, frozen pizza and soups; Michael Angelo's frozen entrées and pasta sauces; and noosa yogurts, as well as snacking products in foodservice in Canada. The Snacks segment retails Pepperidge Farm cookies, crackers, fresh bakery, and frozen products, that includes Goldfish crackers, Snyder’s of Hanover pretzels, Lance sandwich crackers, Cape Cod and Kettle Brand potato chips, Late July snacks, Snack Factory pretzel crisps, and other snacking products. This segment is also involved in the retail business in Latin America. It sells its products through retail food chains, mass discounters and merchandisers, club stores, convenience stores, drug stores, and dollar stores, as well as e-commerce and other retail, commercial, and non-commercial establishments, and independent contractor distributors. The company was formerly known as Campbell Soup Company and changed its name to The Campbell's Company in November 2024. The company was founded in 1869 and is headquartered in Camden, New Jersey.
Key insights and themes extracted from this filing
Net sales reached $9.636 billion, a 3% increase attributed to a 5-point benefit from the Sovos Brands acquisition and favorable net price realization. This was partially offset by unfavorable volume/mix, indicating some underlying weakness in demand for existing products.
Gross profit margin decreased to 30.8% from 31.2% year-over-year, primarily due to higher cost inflation, supply chain costs, and the impact of the Sovos Brands acquisition. This suggests profitability is under pressure despite top-line growth.
Earnings per share (EPS) decreased to $1.89 from $2.85 in the prior year, heavily impacted by $1.19 per share in expenses related to restructuring, acquisition costs, and asset impairments. While some are non-recurring, they significantly impacted profitability.
The acquisition of Sovos Brands contributed significantly to the Meals & Beverages segment, increasing sales by 9 percentage points. This indicates a strategic focus on expanding the portfolio through acquisitions.
Snacks sales decreased by 2%, with declines in third-party partner brands, fresh bakery, and the Pop Secret popcorn business offsetting growth in power brands. This suggests challenges in certain parts of the snacks portfolio and the impact of divestitures.
The company plans to implement new cost savings initiatives beginning in 2025, targeting approximately $250 million in annual savings by the end of 2028. This signals a focus on improving efficiency and profitability through cost management.
While gross margin declined, the company cited supply chain productivity improvements as partially offsetting cost inflation. This indicates some success in mitigating cost pressures through operational improvements.
The company completed the consolidation of its Snacks offices into its Camden headquarters, aiming to foster closer collaboration and enhance decision-making. This reflects an effort to streamline operations and improve strategic execution.
The company recognized significant impairment charges of $129 million on the Pop Secret and Allied brands trademarks, suggesting management is facing challenges in revitalizing these brands and is adjusting their outlook accordingly.
The 10-K highlights the risk that the company may not be able to increase prices or sustain price increases to fully offset inflationary pressures on costs, such as raw and packaging materials, labor, and distribution costs. This is a persistent risk.
The 10-K acknowledges that achieving the anticipated benefits of the Sovos Brands transaction is subject to uncertainties, including whether the integration is efficient and effective. Integration will be complex and may require significant management attention.
The 10-K states that cyber threats are constantly evolving, becoming more frequent and sophisticated, and are being made by groups of individuals and state actors with a wide range of expertise and motives. This is a persistent and escalating risk.
The 10-K states that the company operates in the highly competitive food and beverage industry mainly in the North American market and experiences competition in all of its categories. This competition may result in lower sales and margins.
The 10-K mentions that the company's businesses are largely concentrated in the traditional retail grocery trade, which has experienced slower growth than other retail channels. This trend away from traditional retail grocery to alternate channels is expected to continue in the future.
The 10-K states that the company's ability to compete also depends upon its ability to predict, identify, and interpret the tastes and dietary habits of consumers and to offer products that appeal to those preferences.
The company has substantially completed its multi-year cost savings initiatives and Snyder's-Lance cost transformation program and integration, generating total program-to-date pre-tax savings of approximately $950 million. This reflects a focus on improving efficiency.
The company announced new cost savings initiatives beginning in 2025, including initiatives to further optimize the supply chain and manufacturing network, optimization of information technology infrastructure and targeted cost management. This signals a continued focus on cost control.
The company began implementation of a new initiative to improve the effectiveness of its Snacks direct store delivery route-to-market network, indicating an effort to optimize distribution channels.
The company is implementing its existing SAP enterprise-resource planning system for Snyder's-Lance, indicating a focus on modernizing its IT infrastructure.
The company is focused on optimizing its information technology infrastructure and applications as part of new cost savings initiatives, indicating a focus on improving technology and efficiency.
The company's cybersecurity risk management strategy includes the use of cybersecurity insurance, indicating an awareness of and investment in mitigating potential technology-related risks.
The company acquired Sovos Brands for $2.857 billion in cash, indicating a significant allocation of capital to expand its portfolio.
The company used the net proceeds from the sale of notes to repay the $2 billion of outstanding borrowings under the 2024 DDTL Credit Agreement, indicating a focus on managing debt.
The company expects capital expenditures to total approximately $530 million in 2025, with major projects including network optimization for the Meals & Beverages business and capacity projects for the Snacks business. This indicates continued investment in infrastructure.
The company is subject to an increasing focus on sustainability matters, including reducing its impact on the environment and relating to animal welfare. This indicates a growing emphasis on ESG.
In 2022, the company established science-based targets for Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas emissions, demonstrating a commitment to reducing its environmental impact.
The company might fail to effectively address increased attention from the media, stockholders, activists and other stakeholders on climate change and related environmental sustainability matters or animal welfare goals, including attention from stakeholders with opposing views on such matters.
The 10-K states that the company's businesses are being influenced by a variety of trends that it anticipates will continue in the future, including: cost inflation; an evolving consumer landscape; and a competitive and dynamic retail environment.
The 10-K states that the industry continues to navigate a steady and ongoing recovery in light of supply chain disruptions, commodity cost volatility, labor market issues, economic uncertainties regarding the 2024 presidential election, impacts of a potential change in administration and other global macroeconomic challenges.
The 10-K states that the company expects input cost inflation in 2025 to remain at similar levels as 2024, as it continues to see improvement across certain ingredients and packaging materials.