ConAgra Lowers Near-Term Forecast, Restates Some Results

The food supplier attributes the revision to accounting issues at one of its units.
By Dan Bernstein ,

ConAgra

(CAG) - Get Report

expects to miss Wall Street's consensus fourth-quarter earnings forecast, and the food supplier disclosed plans to restate its financial results for the last three fiscal years and the first three quarters of the current fiscal year.

In a press release Friday, the company said it will be forced to restate all of 1998, 1999 and 2000 because of accounting and conduct matters at its

United Agri Products

division.

ConAgra warned that earnings for the fourth quarter will likely come in between 19 cents and 23 cents a share, well below the

Thomson Financial/First Call

consensus estimate of 35 cents a share. The company is scheduled to post earnings June 28, before the market opens.

The restatement will lower the reported fiscal 1998 revenue by $42 million, and earnings will come down by 2 cents a share. The move will reduce revenue for fiscal 1999 by $84 million, while earnings will drop by 6 cents a share. Revenue for fiscal 2000 will decline by $161 million, and the bottom line will again be cut by 6 cents a share.

ConAgra, which makes foods including

Bumble Bee

tuna and

Butterball

turkey, said the restatement will increase the top line for fiscal 2001 by $324 million, while adding 16 cents a share to earnings. The company also said it expects fiscal 2002 to be "substantially" more profitable than fiscal 2001.

"While some of the factors that made for a difficult 2001 will continue into our new fiscal year, we think the economy will snap back at some point, and we look for stronger conditions overall as our year moves into calendar 2002," the company said in statement. "We believe we will post earnings gains in fiscal 2002 that show a strong single-digit rate of growth over fiscal 2001, and possibly double-digit growth depending on the economy."

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