ConAgra Still Haunted by Explosion
Investigators survey the wreckage during recovery operations Wednesday, June 10, 2009, at ConAgra Foods in Garner, N.C.
NEW YORK (
) --
ConAgra Foods
(CAG) - Get Report
announced Thursday that it will be shutting down a Garner, N.C., Slim Jim plant and transferring the operations to another plant, resulting in the elimination of 500 jobs.
The company has been operating under limited capacity at the N.C. plant following an explosion that partially damaged the facility and killed three people last year. ConAgra expects to close the plant in late 2011.
After ConAgra transfers the Slim Jim operations from Garner to ConAgra's Troy, Ohio facility, the latter will become the company's primary meat snacks production facility.
Although 500 jobs will be eliminated at Garner, 200 positions are expected to be created at the Troy plant, as ConAgra transitions its Slim Jim operations there.
The Garner plant will continue to operate at existing employment levels for the next 15 to 18 months, during which ConAgra plans to provide severance, outplacement and job retraining incentives during the transition period.
ConAgra expects to take charges of $52 million to $72 million in connection with the plan. Also reflected in these charges is uncertainty stemming from the company's current inability to determine whether $12 million worth of equipment was destroyed in the explosion, given that it can't fully access the portion of the Garner facility that was damaged in the June 2009 accident.
ConAgra Foods stock has fallen 0.2% to $24.90.
-- Reported by Andrea Tse in New York
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