ConAgra to exit private label

Reporting on his company’s fiscal 2015 fourth-quarter earnings, Sean Connolly, CEO of Omaha, Neb.-based ConAgra Foods, said that ConAgra will be pursuing a new plan to maximize value for its shareholders. As part of that plan, ConAgra will be divesting its private brand operations.

“As I have intensely studied the situation in our private brands operations over the last few months, it has become clear that the time and energy the company is devoting to the private brands turnaround represent a suboptimal use of our resources,” Connolly said.

Sales for the quarter in the private label division were $1 billion, a decrease of about 1 percent, ConAgra said. Higher commodity costs negatively impacted profits, as did lower volumes.