B&G Foods considering selling frozen vegetable brands

B&G Foods is considering selling some or all of its frozen and canned vegetable brands — news that caused the company’s stock price to fall by 28%.

The company sold its Green Giant U.S. canned vegetable business to Seneca Foods last November and snacks brand Back to Nature to Barilla in 2022. Its other vegetable brands include Joan of Arc and Le Sueur.

“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,” according to a first-quarter report that disclosed a 7% drop in sales from the year-earlier period.

Sales for the first quarter totaled $475 million. The company attributed a net loss of $40 million to recent divestitures.

“Green Giant remains a strong brand with broad awareness and distribution, and the frozen vegetables category is on trend with health and dietary trends,” Casey Keller, B&G Foods president and CEO, told Food Dive. “However, I believe the frozen vegetable business may not be the right fit with B&G Foods’ focus and capabilities, particularly since we have no plans to add more assets in the frozen portfolio given the opportunities in our core shelf-stable businesses and overall capital constraints.”

B&G Foods’ stock price on the New York Stock Exchange closed at $8.28 per share on May 9, down from a May 8 close of $11.55 per share.

B&G Foods’ other brands include Cream of Wheat, Crisco and Ortega.