TIDMSRL
Sara Lee Corp. (NYSE: SLE) today announced that it plans to amend the timing of its calendar 2010 share purchases by using a portion of the proceeds from each pending Household & Body Care (H&BC) transaction to repurchase up to $800 million of shares. The company's current $500 million (approximately 36 million shares of common stock) accelerated stock repurchase program, announced in March 2010, is expected to be completed during this summer. After this, the company will recommence share buybacks as the various H&BC transactions close.
Sara Lee remains committed to its previously announced share repurchase strategy, as it still intends to buy back $2.5 to $3.0 billion of stock over a three-year period, with $1.0 to $1.3 billion to be repurchased in calendar year 2010.
To date, Sara Lee has announced three transactions from its Household & Body Care segment divestiture process. All are subject to customary closing conditions.
-- On Sept. 25, 2009, Sara Lee announced that it received a binding offer
of EUR1.275 billion from Unilever to acquire its global body care and
European detergents businesses. The proposed transaction is expected
to close by the end of calendar year 2010.
-- On Dec. 11, 2009, Sara Lee Corp. announced it received a binding offer
from The Procter & Gamble Company to acquire Sara Lee's air care
business for EUR320 million. The proposed transaction is anticipated to
close by the end of Sara Lee's fiscal year.
-- On May 12, 2010, the company announced it agreed to sell its 51
percent stake in the Godrej Sara Lee Ltd. joint venture to Godrej
Consumer Products Ltd. for EUR185 million. The transaction is
anticipated to close before the end of Sara Lee's fiscal year.
The company continues to evaluate the best opportunities for value creation and investment of cash, including potential acquisitions or other investments in the company's growth.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements regarding Sara Lee's business prospects, future earnings growth, share repurchase plans, credit ratings, future dividend amount and payout ratios, tax costs and cash flow. In addition, from time to time, in oral statements and written reports, the corporation discusses its expectations regarding the corporation's future performance by making forward-looking statements preceded by terms such as "anticipates," "we are confident," "expects," "likely" or "believes." These forward-looking statements are based on currently available competitive, financial and economic data and management's views and assumptions regarding future events. Forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain, and investors must recognize that actual results may differ from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Consequently, the corporation wishes to caution readers not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Among the factors that could cause Sara Lee's actual results to differ from such forward-looking statements are factors relating to:
-- Future opportunities that the Board may determine present greater
potential value to shareholders than the current capital plans and
targets, including without limitation potential acquisitions, joint
ventures or other corporate transactions, and investments in Sara
Lee's business;
-- Future operating or capital needs that require a more significant
outlay of cash than currently anticipated;
-- Sara Lee's relationship with its customers, such as (i) a significant
change in Sara Lee's business with any of its major customers, such as
Walmart, its largest customer, including changes in how such customers
manage their suppliers and the level of inventory these customers
maintain; and (ii) credit and other business risks associated with
customers operating in a highly competitive retail environment;
-- The consumer marketplace, such as (iii) significant competition,
including advertising, promotional and price competition; (iv) changes
in consumer behavior due to economic conditions, such as a shift in
consumer demand toward private label; (v) fluctuations in the cost of
raw materials, Sara Lee's ability to increase or maintain product
prices in response to fluctuations in cost and the impact on
Sara Lee's profitability; (vi) the impact of various food safety
issues and regulations on sales and profitability of Sara Lee
products; and (vii) inherent risks in the marketplace associated with
new product introductions, including uncertainties about trade and
consumer acceptance;
-- Sara Lee's international operations, such as (viii) impacts on
reported earnings from fluctuations in foreign currency exchange
rates, particularly the European euro; (ix) Sara Lee's generation of a
high percentage of its revenues from businesses outside the United
States and costs to remit these foreign earnings into the United
States to fund Sara Lee's domestic operations, share repurchase plans
and corporate costs; (x) the impact on Sara Lee's business of its
receipt of binding offers to purchase a large portion of its H&BC
business, its intent to divest the remainder of that business and the
scope, timing and possibility of non-completion of such divestitures;
and (xi) Sara Lee's ability to continue to source production and
conduct manufacturing and selling operations in various countries due
to changing business conditions, political environments, import quotas
and the financial condition of suppliers;
-- Previous business decisions, such as (xii) Sara Lee's ability to
generate margin improvement through cost reduction and efficiency
initiatives, including Project Accelerate and the outsourcing of
significant portions of our financial transaction processing, global
IT, and global indirect procurement activities; (xiii) Sara Lee's
ability to achieve planned cash flows from capital expenditures and
acquisitions and the impact of changing interest rates and the cost of
capital on the discounted value of those planned cash flows, which
could impact future impairment analyses; (xiv) credit ratings issued
by the three major credit rating agencies, the impact of Sara Lee's
capital plans and targets on such credit ratings and the impact these
ratings and changes in these ratings may have on Sara Lee's cost to
borrow funds, access to capital/debt markets, and ability to complete
the planned share repurchase; (xv) Sara Lee's plan to refinance
significant outstanding indebtedness in the next two years and the
impact of potential changes in the credit environment; (xvi) Sara
Lee's plan to repurchase a significant amount of its common stock and
the impact of such repurchases on its earnings, cash flow and credit
ratings; (xvii) the settlement of a number of ongoing reviews of
Sara Lee's income tax filing positions in various jurisdictions and
inherent uncertainties related to the interpretation of tax
regulations in the jurisdictions in which Sara Lee transacts business;
and (xviii) changes in the expense for and contingent liabilities
relating to multi-employer pension plans in which Sara Lee
participates.
In addition, Sara Lee's results may also be affected by general factors, such as economic conditions, political developments, interest and inflation rates, accounting standards, taxes and laws and regulations in markets where the corporation competes. Sara Lee undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
About Sara Lee Corporation
Each and every day, Sara Lee (NYSE: SLE) delights millions of consumers and customers around the world. The company has one of the world's best-loved and leading portfolios with its innovative and trusted food, beverage, household and body care brands, including Ambi Pur, Ball Park, Douwe Egberts, Hillshire Farm, Jimmy Dean, Kiwi, Sanex, Sara Lee and Senseo. Collectively, these brands generate almost $13 billion in annual net sales covering approximately 180 countries. The Sara Lee community consists of 41,000 employees worldwide. Please visit www.saralee.com for the latest news and in-depth information about Sara Lee and its brands.
Sara Lee Corporation
Media: Jon Harris, +1.630.598.8661
Analysts: Aaron Hoffman, +1.630.598.8739
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