Sara Lee to focus on food
The company will spin or sell off 40 of its revenues to focus on food and household products.
10/02/05 Sara Lee will spin or sell off 40 per cent of its revenues, including its clothing businesses to focus on food and household products. The company’s clothing sales (which includes brands like Champion sportswear, Playtex bras and Hanes underwear) rose by less than 1 per cent in 2004, as a result of rising commodity prices and competition from lower-cost products. The company said that the businesses it plans to exit have a total revenue of $8.2bn.
Former Pepsi Chief Executive, Brenda Barnes has been named as the company’s new chief executive officer, replacing Steve McMillan, who will stay on as chairman until October. McMillan said, “We believe that spinning off the $4.5 billion apparel business into a stand-alone, Fortune 500 company will be beneficial to Sara Lee shareholders”.
New CEO Barnes stated: “Today, Sara Lee is embarking on an aggressive, strategic plan that will transform the entire enterprise into a tightly focused food, beverage and household products company”.
