Campbell Soup To Discuss Plans To Redesign Enterprise Structure - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Campbell Soup Co. (CPB) said it will provide additional information today at the Consumer Analyst Group of New York or CAGNY Conference in Boca Raton, Florida, on its plans to implement the new enterprise structure that the company announced on January 29, 2015.

The company will also discuss a major new cost reduction initiative and a significant initiative to simplify its organization structure in order to improve its agility in the marketplace. Campbell expects these steps to generate annual cost savings of at least $200 million over a three-year period.

Under the new enterprise design announced last month, Campbell's businesses will be organized in three new divisions structured mainly by product categories rather than by geographies or brand groups. They are Americas Simple Meals and Beverages; Global Biscuits and Snacks; Packaged Fresh.

The company believes it has identified opportunities to reduce its annual overhead expenses over time by at least $200 million, or 2-3% of its annual sales, over and above the savings delivered through its longstanding annual productivity program.

Campbell noted that it will begin to capture these opportunities in fiscal 2016 through a zero-based budgeting process that will target cost savings in specific budget categories.

The company said it is also developing plans to simplify and streamline its organization structure by eliminating excess layers of management and suboptimal spans of control, standardizing common processes across the business divisions, and implementing an integrated global services organization that will leverage the company's scale and improve its capabilities through dedicated centers of excellence.

Campbell expects that full execution of the organization redesign and the new cost reduction initiative will require about three years. The company does not expect to deliver significant savings from this initiative in the current fiscal year.