H. J. Heinz Company (NYSE: HNZ), commonly known as Heinz and famous for its "57 Varieties" slogan and its ketchup, is an American food company with world headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Perhaps best known for its ketchup, the H.J. Heinz Company manufactures thousands of food products in plants on six continents and markets these products in more than 200 countries and territories. Heinz ranked first in ketchup in the United States with a market share in excess of 50%. Moreover, its Ore-Ida label held more than 50% of the frozen-potato sector. Overall, the company claims to have 150 number one or number two brands worldwide.

H. J. Heinz Company, incorporated on July 27, 1900, together with its subsidiaries is engaged in manufacturing and marketing a range of food products globally. The Company’s principal products include ketchup, condiments and sauces, frozen food, soups, beans and pasta meals, infant nutrition and other food products. The Company’s principal products include ketchup, condiments and sauces, frozen food, soups, beans and pasta meals, infant nutrition and other food products. The Company’s products are manufactured and packaged to provide safe, wholesome foods for consumers, as well as foodservice and institutional customers. The Company manufactures and contracts for the manufacture of its products from a range of raw foods. The Company operates in five segments: North American Consumer Products, Europe, Asia/Pacific, U.S. Foodservice and Rest of World. In November 2010, the Company acquired Foodstar, a manufacturer of soy sauces and fermented bean curd in China, from Transpac Industrial Holdings Ltd. In April 2011, the Company acquired 80% stake in Coniexpress S.A. Industrias Alimenticias.
North American Consumer Products
The North American Consumer Products segment manufactures, markets and sells ketchup, condiments, sauces, pasta meals, and frozen potatoes, entrees, snacks, and appetizers to the grocery channels in the United States of America. It also includes the Company’s Canadian business.
Europe
The Europe segment includes the Company’s operations in Europe, including Eastern Europe and Russia. It sells products in all of the Company’s categories.
Asia/Pacific
The Asia/Pacific segment includes the Company’s operations in Australia, New Zealand, India, Japan, China, South Korea, Indonesia, and Singapore. The segment’s operations include products in all of the Company’s categories.
U.S. Foodservice
The U.S. Foodservice segment manufactures, markets and sells branded and customized products to commercial and non- commercial food outlets and distributors in the United States. The products ketchup, condiments, sauces, frozen soups and desserts.
Rest of World
The Rest of World segment includes the Company’s operations in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. It sell products in all of the Company’s categories.

In March 1997 Heinz launched a major restructuring that involved the closure or sale of 25 plants and a workforce reduction of 2,500, as well as a plan to divest the foodservice operations of the Ore-Ida unit. The latter came to fruition in June 1997 with the sale of said operations to McCain Foods Limited of New Brunswick, Canada, for about $500 million (Heinz retained the Ore-Ida retail business). In connection with the restructuring, Heinz took pretax charges of $647.2 million in fiscal 1997, resulting in a reduction in net income to $301.9 million (compared with $659.3 million for 1996). Heinz also continued to make selective acquisitions, with one of the more important ones being the June 1997 purchase of John West Foods Limited from Unilever. John West was the leading brand of canned tuna and fish in the firm's home country, the United Kingdom. In May 1998 Johnson was named president and CEO of Heinz, with O'Reilly becoming nonexecutive chairman.
Restructuring efforts continued into the early 21st century. In late 1998 the company took a $150 million charge to combine the operations of its Ore-Ida Foods and Weight Watchers Gourmet Foods units into a new unit called Heinz Frozen Food Company. Early the following year, Heinz announced its largest restructuring yet. In the first phase of a projected four-year program, the company planned to close 20 of its remaining 100 factories, reduce the workforce by an additional 4,000, and divest the diet class business of Weight Watchers. A key component of the program was the realigning of the company along global category lines, a major shift from the previous geographic arrangement. The six main categories, generating 80 percent of global revenues, were ketchup, tuna, frozen foods, infant foods, pet foods, and convenience meals. Heinz also planned to concentrate on the six countries that generated 80 percent of the company's revenues: the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. While the company hoped eventually to reap $200 million in annual savings from these efforts, it also planned to spend an additional $100 million during fiscal 2000 to increase its spending on marketing its flagship brands. Pretax restructuring charges for fiscal 1999 totaled $552.8 million.
In late 1999 Heinz completed the sale of the Weight Watchers diet class unit to Artal Luxembourg, S.A., a European venture capital firm, for about $735 million. Around this same time, with pressure for global consolidation among food companies growing, Heinz entered into merger talks with Bestfoods, maker of soups, sauces, bouillons, dressings, and other products. The talks collapsed, however, and Unilever soon stepped in to acquire Bestfoods. In the wake of this failed merger, Heinz continued its acquisitive ways. The company gained a foothold in the fast-growing natural and organic foods sector through the purchase of a 19.5 percent stake in Hain Food Group Inc. for $100 million. The Hain product line included Health Valley cereal and other products, Terra Chip snacks, and Westsoy soy beverages. Through the alliance with Heinz, Hain also acquired the Earth's Best line of organic baby foods. In May 2000 Hain acquired Celestial Seasonings, best known for its herbal teas, in a stock swap, leading Heinz to invest an additional $80 million in Hain to keep its stake at 19.5 percent. Other developments included the acquisition of the frozen food business of U.K.-based United Biscuits PLC for $317 million. Sales for the unit in 1998 were $360 million, with the product line including frozen desserts, pizzas, potato products, and vegetarian/meat-free items. In February 2000 Heinz announced that it had signed an agreement to acquire Milnot Holding Corporation, maker of the Beech-Nut brand of baby food, for $185 million. Beech-Nut was the number two baby food brand in the United States, with 13 percent of the market, while Heinz was number three with 11 percent. The commanding leader was Gerber, with 73 percent. Despite what Heinz officials called Gerber's virtual monopoly position, the Federal Trade Commission moved to block the deal in July 2000 under antitrust laws. In June 2000 Heinz began selling StarKist tuna in vacuum-sealed pouches, claiming that the tuna was fresher-tasting and firmer than the traditional canned variety.
The restructuring efforts launched under Johnson's leadership appeared to be paying off for Heinz. Although overall revenues remained flat--the $9.41 billion for 2000 was only marginally larger than the 1996 total of $9.11 billion&mdash′ofits were growing. For fiscal 2000, a pretax restructuring charge of $392.7 million was more than offset by a pretax gain of $464.6 million on the sale of the Weight Watchers unit, resulting in overall net income for the year of $890.6 million. The company's future remained uncertain, despite such improvements, as speculation about further food industry consolidation remained rife. Should Heinz not join in the merger wave, Johnson was prepared to pick up some of the brands that were certain to be discarded following the mergers of other food companies.
Principal Subsidiaries: Alimentos Heinz, C.A. (Venezuela); Alimentos Pilar S.A. (Argentina); AIAL S.r.l. (Arimpex Industrie Alimentari S.r.l.) (Italy); The All American Gourmet Company; Boulder, Inc.; Ets. Paul Paulet (France); Heinz Europe Ltd. (U.K.); Heinz Frozen Food Company; Heinz Iberica S.A. (Spain); Heinz India Private Ltd.; Heinz Italia S.r.l. (Italy); Heinz Japan Ltd.; Heinz Polska Sp. Z.o.o. (Poland); Heinz South Africa (Pty) Limited; Heinz-UFE Ltd. (China); Heinz-Wattie Holdings Ltd. (New Zealand); Heinz Win Chance Ltd. (Thailand); H.J. Heinz (Botswana Proprietary) Ltd.; H.J. Heinz B.V. (Netherlands); H.J. Heinz Company Australia Limited; H.J. Heinz Company of Canada Ltd.; H.J. Heinz Company Limited (U.K.); H.J. Heinz Credit Company; H.J. Heinz European Frozen & Chilled Foods, Ltd. (Ireland); Indian Ocean Tuna Ltd. (Seychelles); Industrias de Alimentacao, Lda. (Portugal); Mareblu S.r.l. (Italy); Olivine Industries (Private) Limited (Zimbabwe); Portion Pac, Inc.; Pudliszki S.A. (Poland); PT Heinz ABC Indonesia; Seoul-Heinz Ltd. (South Korea); StarKist Foods, Inc.; Thompson & Hills Limited (New Zealand).
Principal Competitors: Aurora Foods Inc.; Bestfoods; Borden, Inc.; Campbell Soup Company; Chicken of the Sea International; Colgate-Palmolive Company; ConAgra, Inc.; Groupe Danone; Del Monte Foods Company; Hibernia Foods plc; Hormel Foods Corporation; International Home Foods, Inc.; Jenny Craig; Kraft Foods, Inc.; Mars, Inc.; McIlhenny Company; Nabisco Holdings Corp.; Nestlé S.A.; Novartis AG; Pillsbury Company; The Procter & Gamble Company; Ralston Purina Company; Sara Lee Corporation; Slim-Fast Foods Company; Tyson Foods, Inc.; Vlasic Foods International Inc.

OVERALL
Beta: 0.57
Market Cap (Mil.): $16,470.79
Shares Outstanding (Mil.): 321.82
Annual Dividend: 1.80
Yield (%): 3.52
FINANCIALS
HNZ Industry Sector
P/E (TTM): 17.23 24.13 26.48
EPS (TTM): 5.07 -- --
ROI: 12.33 2.10 7.98
ROE: 42.82 3.52 12.90


Statistics:
Public Company
Incorporated: 1900
Employees: 46,900
Sales: $9.41 billion (2000)
Stock Exchanges: New York Pacific
Ticker Symbol: HNZ
NAIC: 311111 Dog and Cat Food Manufacturing; 311230 Breakfast Cereal Manufacturing; 311412 Frozen Specialty Food Manufacturing; 311421 Fruit and Vegetable Canning; 311422 Canned Specialties; 311711 Seafood Canning; 311941 Mayonnaise, Dressing, and Other Prepared Sauce Manufacturing

Key Dates:

1869: Henry J. Heinz and L.C. Noble form partnership, Heinz, Noble & Company, to sell bottled horseradish.
1875: Business fails following the panic of 1873.
1876: Business is reorganized in a new partnership, F & J Heinz; ketchup is added to the product line.
1888: Henry Heinz gains financial control of F & J Heinz and changes its name to H.J. Heinz Company.
1892: The slogan '57 Varieties' is first used.
1900: Company is incorporated.
1905: The first foreign factory is opened in England.
1919: Henry Heinz dies and is succeeded by his son, Howard.
1931: Company branches into ready-to-eat soups and baby food.
1946: Company goes public.
1963: StarKist Foods is acquired.
1965: Ore-Ida Foods, Inc. is acquired.
1978: Weight Watchers International is acquired.
1979: Anthony J.F. O'Reilly is named CEO.
1988: StarKist Foods is reorganized into StarKist Seafood and Heinz Pet Products.
1994: Company acquires the Budget Gourmet line of frozen meals.
1995: The North American pet food businesses of Quaker Oats Company are acquired, including such brands as Kibbles'n Bits, Gravy Train, and Ken-L Ration.
1997: Company initiates a major restructuring.
1999: An even larger, multiyear restructuring is launched; the Weight Watchers diet class business is divested.

Name Age Since Current Position
Johnson, William 62 2000 Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer
Winkleblack, Arthur 53 2002 Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President
Bobby, Theodore 59 2007 Executive Vice President, General Counsel
Milone, Michael 54 2010 EVP - Heinz Rest of World, and Global Enterprise Risk Management and Global Infant/Nutrition
Moran, David 52 2009 Executive Vice President, President and Chief Executive Officer - Heinz Europe
O'Hara, C. Scott 49 2009 Executive Vice President, President and Chief Executive Officer - Heinz North America
Warmoth, Christopher 51 2008 Executive Vice President - Heinz Asia Pacific
McMenamin, Edward 53 2004 Senior Vice President - Finance, Corporate Controller
Nollen, Meg 2011 SVP - Investor Relations, Global Program Management Officer and Office of the Chairman
Ostryniec, Bob 49 2010 Senior Vice President, Chief Supply Chain Officer
Clark, Steve 42 2005 Vice President, Chief People Officer
Mullen, Michael 41 2009 Vice President - Corporate and Government Affairs
Thomson, Isobel 2011 Chief Information Officer
Holiday, Edith 59 1994 Director
Coleman, Leonard 62 1998 Director
Bryan, Candace 64 1998 Director
O'Hare, Dean 68 2000 Director
Usher, Thomas 68 2000 Director
Bunch, Charles 61 2003 Director
Swann, Lynn 58 2003 Director
Drosdick, John 67 2005 Director
Reilley, Dennis 58 2005 Director
Peltz, Nelson 68 2006 Director
Weinstein, Michael 62 2006 Director

Address:
600 Grant Street
P.O. Box 57
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15230-0057
U.S.A.
 
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