As part of a disappointing first-quarter financial report, B&G Foods announced it may divest its frozen vegetables and the rest of its canned vegetables business.
“Green Giant remains a strong brand with broad awareness and distribution, and the frozen vegetables category is on trend with health and dietary trends,” said Casey Keller, president/CEO. “However, I believe the frozen vegetable business may not be the right fit with B&G Foods’ focus and capabilities, particularly since we he no plans to add more assets in the frozen portfolio given the opportunities in our core shelf-stable businesses and overall capital constraints.”
The company sold the Green Giant U.S. canned vegetable business in November 2023 to Seneca Foods. Now the frozen and remaining canned vegetable businesses are under strategic review. Other veggie brands include B&G, B&M, Joan of Arc and LeSueur.
“The company is evaluating a possible divestiture of some or all of the assets in its Frozen & Vegetable business unit, either in a single transaction or in a series of transactions,” the first quarter report said.
Sales in that quarter were $475 million, a 7% decline from the year-earlier period, but mostly due to those two 2023 divestitures – although the report also noted a decrease in net pricing and increased promotional spending. The company netted a loss of $40 million.
As previously disclosed, the company has been evaluating potential divestitures that represent between 10% to 15% of the Company’s consolidated net sales. To that end, last year, B&G also sold its Back to Nature brand of healthy cookies and snacks to Barilla Group.