The World's Largest Soup Maker Isn't Making Soup Anymore

Campbell Soup Co. said it would reorganize its business into product divisions, instead of geographies or brand groups, as it focuses on growth areas in the face of cooling soup sales.

The company said the reorganization would shift its "center of gravity", a reference to its troubled soup business that has managed to boost sales only twice in the past five quarters.

The world's largest soup maker said it would now have three divisions - America's simple meals and beverages, global biscuits and snacks, and packaged fresh products, which include seasoned baby carrots. Currently, the company has five divisions.

The iconic Campbell's brand founded in 1869, also includes Pepperidge Farm, Goldfish, Bolthouse Farms, V8, Swanson, Prego, Pace, Plum Organics, Arnott's, Tim Tam, Royal Dansk and Kjeldsens in its portfolio.

Weak sales prompted Chief Executive Denise Morrison to launch a turnaround program after taking office in 2011, spending hundreds of millions of dollars to revamp the company's marketing and packaging strategies.

"The adoption of our new enterprise structure will be an important milestone for Campbell," Morrison said in a company news release. "This reorganization will help unlock the value of our brands and the growth potential of our business. It will drive focused investment on our largest growth opportunities. It is the logical next step in our ongoing effort to shift our company's center of gravity, accelerate our growth trajectory and maximize value for our shareholders."

New product launches included "to-go" soups that could be made in a Keurig Green Mountain Inc coffee machine. The company also acquired or developed a slew of brands and products such as puffed Goldfish snacks and Bolthouse Farms, a producer of fresh carrots and beverages.

The turnaround efforts have yet to bear fruit on a sustained basis, however.

Increasing competition from store brands, private labels and niche producers such as Pacific of Oregon, Harris Foods Co and Amy's Kitchen Inc, have also hurt the company's soup business. Thursday's reorganization will make the company more streamlined and simplified, according to Campbell's statement.

Campbell's shares were little changed at $45.73 in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company is scheduled to report second-quarter results on Feb. 25.

(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Joyjeet Das and Ted Kerr)