PARSIPPANY, NJ. — B&G Foods Inc. has reached a “significant milestone” in revamping its product portfolio with the sell-off of virtually all its Green Giant assets, said Casey Keller, president and chief executive officer.
Meanwhile, Parsippany-based B&G chalked up its fourth-straight fiscal year loss in 2025 as impairment charges related to divestitures — including the Green Giant brand assets — took a bite out of its bottom line.
On March 2, B&G sold its Green Giant US frozen vegetables product line to Seneca Foods Corp., which in November 2023 had purchased the Green Giant US canned vegetables business. In February 2025, B&G initiated a strategic review, including the potential divestiture of its packaged vegetable assets, including Le Sueur (canned) and Green Giant (frozen). Two deals then followed: the sale of the Le Sueur US canned vegetables business to McCall Farms Inc. in August 2025 and the sale of the Green Giant and Le Sueur frozen and shelf-stable vegetables brands in Canada to Nortera Foods in October 2025.
“We announced the divestiture of the Green Giant US frozen business to Seneca Foods, a significant milestone in the reshaping and restructuring of the B&G Foods portfolio,” Keller told analysts in a March 3 conference call on quarterly results. “This is the largest piece in our portfolio transformation that should result in stronger focus, simplification, greater synergies and higher margins across the core shelf-stable business lines. The Green Giant frozen business simply has not been the right fit for B&G Foods, with seasonal production, a different temperature state, geographic complexity and higher working capital intensity.”
For fiscal 2025 ended Jan. 3, B&G posted a loss of $43.6 million, which compared with a loss of $251.3 million in fiscal 2024. The company attributed the 2025 result primarily to pre-tax, non-cash impairment charges of $60.8 million, which compared with $320 million in the prior year. Adjusted net earnings were $41.3 million, equal to 51¢ per share on the common stock, versus $55.7 million, or 70¢ per share, in 2024. B&G said the decrease reflects lower net sales and higher raw material costs, including the impact of tariffs. The adjusted earnings-per-share result was in line with Wall Street’s consensus estimate of 51¢.
The full-year impairment costs included $34.8 million related to intangible customer relationship and trademark assets for the Green Giant brand, $26 million related to trademark assets for the Victoria and McCann’s brands, and $28.5 million from assets held for sale for Green Giant Canada, B&G said. Those charges were partially offset by a $2.9 million net gain from the Le Sueur US divestiture in third-quarter 2025 and the Don Pepino divestiture in second-quarter 2025.
B&G capped off 2025 with a fourth-quarter loss of $15.2 million, largely due to $34.8 million in impairment charges, down from a loss of $222.4 million, reflecting $320 million in impairment costs, a year ago. Adjusted net earnings were $22.8 million, or 28¢ per share, versus $23.5 million, or 30¢ per share, in the prior-year period. Analysts, on average, had projected quarterly adjusted EPS of 30¢.
Busy M&A activity
Early in fiscal 2026, B&G had some news on the acquisition front. In January, the company agreed to buy Del Monte Foods Corp.’s broth and stock businesses, including all the assets of its College Inn and Kitchen Basics brands. Keller said that transaction is slated to close by the end of March.
“The broth and stock category is attractive, maintains good margins and has grown low to mid-single digits over the past year,” he said. “Like the spices and seasoning category, broths have been propelled by the growth in the fresh perimeter of the store as a critical component for the preparation and cooking of fresh meals and soups. The College Inn and Kitchen Basics brands have relevant, well-known equities, strong distribution presence and high-quality products.
“The net result of these divestures and acquisitions, when completed, will deliver a more focused portfolio that is expected to generate positive adjusted EBITDA growth, stronger cash flows, lower working capital intensity, reduced leverage, and higher gross and adjusted EBITDA margins,” Keller added.
B&G said its acquisition of the College Inn and Kitchen Basics soup and broth brands adds higher-growth products.
| Photo: ©KHAIRIL – STOCK.ADOBE.COMPending regulatory review in Canada, the Green Giant/Le Sueur sale to Nortera is expected to close in the fiscal 2026 second quarter, chief financial officer Bruce Wacha said in the call. He noted the Green Giant US frozen sale included B&G’s frozen vegetable manufacturing operations in Yuma, Ariz., but not its frozen operations in Irapuato, Mexico. With the sale, B&G entered into a co-pack agreement to produce certain Green Giant frozen items for Seneca, which he said will generate about $100 million in annual net sales.
“We received approximately $63.2 million in proceeds from the (sale of the) Green Giant US frozen business, which we will use together with the proceeds from the previously completed divestitures to fund the College Inn and Kitchen Basics acquisition,” Wacha said. “In effect, we are using the sale proceeds from the Green Giant US frozen business — that recently was approximately break-even at best on our P&L — to partially fund the acquisition of the more profitable College Inn and Kitchen Basics business.”
Top line decreases
B&G’s fiscal 2025 net sales fell 5% to $1.83 billion from $1.93 billion a year earlier. The company attributed the decrease mainly to lower base business net sales and the loss of $22.6 million in sales from the Le Sueur US and Don Pepino divestitures. Base business net sales declined 4% year over year on decreases of 3.5% in unit volume and 0.3% in pricing/mix, plus a negative impact from foreign exchange.
Fourth-quarter net sales were down 2.2% to $539.6 million, though base business sales rose 0.8% on upticks of 0.4% in unit volume and 0.5% in pricing/mix, partially offset by a negative impact from foreign exchange.
The Spices & Flavor Solutions segment led the way for B&G in the quarter, with net sales up 4.2% to $106.1 million on increased net pricing/mix and unit volume. For fiscal 2025, the business had virtually flat results, with net sales up 0.1% to $395.7 million.
“Tariff costs were approximately $4.4 million in Q4 and $9.5 million throughout fiscal year ’25,” Keller said of the segment. “We announced pricing actions during Q3 to recover these costs beginning in Q4, although full pricing reflection with some customers took longer than expected within the quarter.”
The Meals segment also saw growth in the fourth quarter as net sales gained 1.1% to $124.2 million, but the business’ top line finished the fiscal year down 3.9% to $444.4 million. Net sales in the Specialty business fell by 3% in the quarter to $210.2 million and by 7% for the year to $630 million, in part reflecting the Don Pepino divestiture, B&G said. In the Frozen & Vegetables business, net sales dropped by 10% to $99.1 million for the quarter and by 9% to $358.6 million for the year, mainly due to the Le Sueur US divestiture, the company said.
For fiscal 2026, B&G projects net sales of $1.655 billion to $1.695 billion and adjusted diluted EPS of 55¢ to 65¢. Analysts, on average, forecast the company’s 2026 adjusted EPS at 51¢. Keller said the Green Giant US frozen vegetables sale will remove about $203 million in annual net sales, partially offset by roughly $80 million in revenue from the co-pack deal. The 2026 outlook doesn’t include the Green Giant Canada divestiture and the College Inn/Kitchen Basics acquisition, which are pending.
“Looking forward, fiscal year ‘26 is poised to be a transformational year, with a more focused, higher margin and stable portfolio once the investors and closing transaction services have been completed,” Keller said. “We expect continued improvement in base business trends towards the long-term algorithm of 1%. Further, we will also become a less complex, more efficient and leaner company behind a simpler portfolio, restructuring operations to right-size overheads and focus resources and investment behind the core categories and brands in spices and seasonings, meals and baking staples.”