Campbell Soup has announced plans to sell off a number of business units including Aussie icon Arnott's biscuits.
The company will sell its fresh food and international units, of which Arnott's is a part, along with manufacturing operations in Indonesia and Malaysia and businesses in Hong Kong and Japan.
Arnott's was founded 150 years ago in Newcastle, NSW, and its products span the sweet and savoury biscuit and crispbread categories. Its brands include TimTam, Iced VoVo, Monte Carlo, Vita-Weat, Jatz, SAO and Shapes.
Campbell Soup took a stake in Arnott's in the 1980s, and then took full control in 1997. The company has said the sell-off will enable it to focus on its core portfolio of soup, simple meals and snacks.
Campbell Soup's interim CEO Keith McLoughlin said the company had lost focus strategically. “We had too many initiatives that made the company unnecessarily complex.”
