Sara Lee Corporation

Sara Lee Corporation

Type	Public
Traded as	NYSE: SLE
Industry	Consumer goods
Founded	1939 By Dale Rosenau
Headquarters	Downers Grove, Illinois, U.S.
Key people	James Crown (Chairman) Marcel Smits (Interim CEO)
Products	Food, beverage, and household and body care products
Revenue	US$ 10.793 billion (FY 2010)[1]
Operating income	US$ 918 million (FY 2010)[1]
Net income	US$ 642 million (FY 2010)[1]
Total assets	US$ 8.836 billion (FY 2010)[1]
Total equity	US$ 1.515 billion (FY 2010)[1]
Employees	33,000 (2010)[1]
Website	SaraLee.com

Sara Lee Corporation (NYSE: SLE) is a global consumer-goods company based in Downers Grove, Illinois, USA.^[2][3] It has operations in more than 40 countries and sells its products in over 180 nations worldwide. Its international operations are headquartered in Utrecht, Netherlands.

Sara Lee is also the brand name of a number of frozen and packaged foods, often known for the long-running slogan "Everybody doesn't like something, but nobody doesn't like Sara Lee," often incorrectly reported as "Nobody does it like Sara Lee."^[4] In 2006, Sara Lee announced a new company wide campaign: "the joy of eating." The campaign is part of a restructuring at Sara Lee.

The company traces its lineage to 1939, when Nathan Cummings acquired C.D. Kenny Company, a wholesale distributor of sugar, coffee and tea in Baltimore, and created Consolidated Foods Corporation. In 1956 the company bought a company known as Kitchens of Sara Lee, which became one of the company's best-known brand names. In 1985 management adopted the brand name as the name of the corporation as a whole. As of 2006, Sara Lee Corporation has operations in more than 40 countries; sells food, beverage and household products in over 180 countries; and has some 40,000 employees worldwide.

In 2011, Sara Lee Corporation split into two companies--one for North American operations which would remain Sara Lee, the other for international beverage and bakery businesses.^[5]

Company

Governance

Current members of the board of directors of Sara Lee are: Christopher B. Begley, Crandall Bowles, Virgis W. Colbert, James S. Crown, Laurette T. Koellner, Dr. John McAdam, Sir Ian Prosser, Rozanne L. Ridgway, Norman R. Sorensen, Jeffrey W. Ubben, Cees J.A. van Lede, Jonathan Ward.

Brands

Current

Food^[6]

Ball Park Franks: hot dogs Bimbo: bakery, Spanish market Bistro collection: bakery Bon Gateaux: bakery Bony: bakery Bryan: meats Butter-Krust: bakery Bryan Foods: meats Colonial: bread CroustiPâte: bakery, European market Deli d'Italia: meats Deli Perfect: meats Earth Grains: bread Emeril: meats Galileo: meats Gallo Salame: meats Grandma Sycamore: bakery Heiner's Bakery: bakery

Hillshire Farm: meats IronKids: bread Jimmy Dean: pork sausages and meat products Kahn's: meats Madame Brioche Martinez: bakery Merrild: Coffee Mother's: bakery Mr. Turkey Ortiz: bakery R.B. Rice: meats Rainbo: bakery Rudy's Farm: pork sausage and breakfast sandwiches Sara Lee: bakery, condiments, deli cheese, deli meats and frozen sweets Silueta: bakery Sunbeam Bread: bakery State Fair: corn dogs West Virginia Brand: meats

Beverages^[6]

Butter-Nut Cappuccino: Bravo: Caboclo: Café Continental: Café Damasco Café do Ponto Café Pilão Cafitesse Chat Noir Cain's Coffee Douwe Egberts: coffee, tea Harris Hornimans Jacqmotte Java Coast Kanis & Gunnink Kayo Laurentis

Maison du Café Marcilla Maryland Club Merrild Moccona Natreen Natrena Paradise Piazza d'Oro Pickwick: tea Prima Seleto Senseo: coffee machine and coffee pods Soley Steamers Suntipt Van Nelle

Divested

Sara Lee Corporation announced in 2006 that it had completed the sale of its branded apparel business in Europe to an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners, Inc. Such brands included Dim, Playtex, Wonderbra, Lovable, Abanderado, Nur Die, Unno, Bellinda. Sara Lee Corporation has announced on Sept 28th, 2009, that it has received a binding offer for its Global Body Care and European Detergents to Unilever for €1.275 billion. On June 1, 2010 Sara Lee announced it had completed the sale of its 51 percent stake in its Godrej Sara Lee joint venture to Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. for a total consideration of €185 million ($230 million). On June 15, 2010, the company announced that it had received a binding offer of $153.5 million for its remaining insecticides business.^[7] The offer is dependent on European Union antitrust approval; the decision is due May 2, 2011.^[7] On July 5, 2010, Sara Lee completed the sale of its Ambi Pur air care business to Procter & Gamble for €320 million. The shoe care business remains under strategic evaluation looking for potential buyers.

Discontinued

On November 19, 2008, Sara Lee Corporation announced that it will close its kosher hot dog and meat processing facility in Chicago, on or before January 30, 2009. Sara Lee has decided to exit the kosher meat business and discontinue processing and distributing products made under all of its kosher meat brands, including: Best’s Kosher, Sinai Kosher, Shofar and Wilno.^[8]

History

In 1986, Sara Lee bought the manufacturing and mail order operations of Wolferman's, a well-known maker of English muffins, that dated back to 1888.^[9]

Brenda C. Barnes was named President and Chief Operating Officer of Sara Lee Corporation in 2004. The Senseo coffee system was launched in the United States, the United Kingdom and Denmark.

In February 2005, the company began executing a bold and ambitious multi-year plan to transform Sara Lee into a company focused on its food, beverage, and household and body care businesses around the world. To support that focus, Sara Lee announced plans to dispose of approximately 40 percent of the company’s revenues, including its apparel, European packaged meats, U.S. retail coffee and direct selling businesses.

In addition, as part of the transformation, Sara Lee organized its operation around its customers, consumers and geographies to better serve the ever-changing global marketplace. Brenda C. Barnes was named president and chief executive officer of Sara Lee Corporation in 2005, and the corporation announced it selected a Downers Grove, Illinois, location as the new company headquarters, which will house the company’s North American operating businesses and the majority of Sara Lee’s corporate staff.

2005 also saw the debut of Sara Lee Soft & Smooth Made with Whole Grain White Bread. In October, Brenda C. Barnes succeeded C. Steven McMillan as chairman of Sara Lee Corporation. The year ended with the sale of Sara Lee’s direct selling business to Tupperware.

2006 featured the divestiture of Sara Lee's European meats and European branded apparel businesses. In addition, the corporation spun off to its shareholders the Branded Apparel, Americas/Asia, business, into a separate, publicly traded company called HanesBrands Inc. Including the spin-off, Sara Lee raises more than $3.7 billion in proceeds as part of the company’s transformation plan. In addition to the monetary benefits, the company is now tightly focused on its core businesses—food, beverage, and household and body care.

By 2009, Sara Lee was pursuing the sale of its Household and Body Care business in their continuing effort to focus on core business.^[10] In April, Sara Lee launched a state-of-the-art research and development center named The Kitchens of Sara Lee, a 120,000-square-foot (11,000 m²) campus at the company’s headquarters in Downers Grove, Ill.^[11]

On 25 September 2009, Sara Lee announced it accepted a binding offer by Unilever for €1.275 billion to sell its global body care and European detergents business.^[12] The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and consultation with European employee works councils.^[13]

On 9 November 2010, Sara Lee said that by selling its North American Fresh Bakery unit to Grupo Bimbo, it could grow in other areas. The $959 million deal gives Sara Lee the right to continue using the Sara Lee name on frozen desserts and meat products. Grupo Bimbo will use the Sara Lee name for fresh-baked products around the world except for Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The deal also means Grupo Bimbo gets 41 plants and the regional brands Grandma Sycamore's, Heiner's and Rainbo.^[14]

On 28 January 2011, Sara Lee announced the company would be split into two units. The company said its North American operations (including Jimmy Dean, Ball Park and Hillshire Farm) would continue to use the Sara Lee name, while the international beverage and bakery businesses (including Douwe Egberts, Senseo, Pickwick, Maison du Café, L'OR, Café Pilão, and Marcilla) would constitute a separate unit to be named later. Some analysts claim splitting the business into two units would make a takeover more likely. Stockholders would have equal shares in both companies. Also, Marcel Smith, interim CEO since Barnes left due to a stroke, becomes the new CEO, and Jan Bennink becomes director and chairman.^[5]

Environmental record

According to the Climate Counts Company Scorecard, Sara Lee was ranked the worst food sector company, which provided the least commitment for consumers to reverse climate change.^[15] Earthgrains Baking Companies, Inc., a subsidiary of Sara Lee, paid a $5.25 million civil penalty with the Department of Justice and the EPA for violating the stratospheric ozone protection regulations.^[16] With over 300 large appliances involved, 57 out of 67 facilities owned by Earthgrains Baking Companies leaked refrigerants, such as chlorofluorocarbons, at a rate 35% higher than allowed by law.^[16] In the EPA's 2002 Annual Report, Sara Lee reported that it did not expect significantly adverse effects on its finances on account of liability from the EPA proceedings.^[17] The US government further appointed Sara Lee to convert all the company’s industrial process refrigeration appliances to prevent the release of substances which deplete the ozone layer.^[18] The company made no attempt to correct leakage problems even after their discovery.^[19]

See also

	Chicago portal
	Companies portal
	Food portal

• List of Illinois companies
• Returnship (first company to use)

Notes and references

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "2010 Form 10-K, Sara Lee Corporation". United States Securities and Exchange Commission. http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/23666/000119312510199642/dex13.htm. 
2. ^ "Investor Contacts." Sara Lee Corporation. Retrieved on January 31, 2011. "Sara Lee Corporation Investor Relations Department 3500 Lacey Road Downers Grove, IL 60515-5424 ."
3. ^ "About Sara Lee." Sara Lee Corporation. Retrieved on January 31, 2011. "Based in Downers Grove, Ill.,[...]"
4. ^ Sara Lee 2005 Annual Report Sara Lee Corporation. Page 113.
5. ^ ^{a b} "Sara Lee to split into two businesses". News & Record. Associated Press. 2011-01-28. http://www.news-record.com/content/2011/01/28/article/sara_lee_to_split_into_2_businesses. Retrieved 2011-01-28. 
6. ^ ^{a b} Sara Lee Corporation (2011). "All Sara Lee Brands". http://www.saralee.com/OurBrands/AllBrands.aspx. Retrieved 2011-01-24. 
7. ^ ^{a b} Serdarevic, Masa (January 4, 2011). "Sara Lee offloads Kiwi polish unit for €245m". Financial Times. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/34ff79d4-17d4-11e0-9033-00144feab49a.html. Retrieved 2011-01-24. 
8. ^ "Sara Lee announces closure of kosher hot dog and meat processing facility in Chicago". SaraLee.com. Sara Lee Corp.. 19 November 2008. http://www.saralee.com/~/media/1A26DA3328F541FC8C3B6204DA64F5E2.ashx. Retrieved 22 November 2008. 
9. ^ Helene McEntee (July 17, 1986). "Muffin-maker Wolferman sells two units to Sara Lee". Chicago Sun-Times. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=CSTB&p_theme=cstb&p_action=search&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB36D142D5CE318&p_field_direct-0=document_id. Retrieved 2010-12-16. 
10. ^ Dorfman, Brad (04/17/2009). "Sara Lee still evaluating possible unit sale". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/innovationNews/idUSTRE53G41F20090417. Retrieved 05/03/2009. 
11. ^ "Sara Lee Corporation Opens the Kitchens of Sara Lee" (Press release). Sara Lee Corporation. 04/17/2009. http://www.saralee.com/~/media/1CDA059186314B949BA91A752E8B423D.ashx. Retrieved 05/03/2009. 
12. ^ (Press release). Sara Lee Corporation. 09/25/09. http://www.saralee.com/~/media/63B218F8B515483D9BC6466F8BACD186.ashx. Retrieved 09/25/2009. 
13. ^ (Press release). Unilever. 09/25/09. http://www.unilever.com/mediacentre/pressreleases/2009/UnilevertoacquirethepersonalcarebusinessofSaraLee.aspx. 
14. ^ "Sara Lee to sell North American bakery unit for $959 million". News & Record. Associated Press. 2010-11-09. http://www.news-record.com/content/2010/11/09/article/sara_lee_to_sell_north_american_bakery_unit_for_959_million. Retrieved 2010-11-09. 
15. ^ "Climate Counts" (PDF). 06/01/2007. http://www.climatecounts.org/pdf/CCScorecardReport-App6-07.pdf. Retrieved 2008-05-06. 
16. ^ ^{a b} "U.S. Department of Justice". 2003-07-31. http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2003/July/03_enrd_432.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-06. 
17. ^ "US Environmental Protection Agency July 30th news release". September 2003. http://www.epa.gov/ozone/enforce/. Retrieved 2008-05-06. 
18. ^ "KC GlobeNews". September 2003. http://www.kahl.net/globenews/globenews9-10-2003.txt. Retrieved 2008-05-06. ^{[dead link]}
19. ^ "Co-Op America". 2008-03-31. Archived from the original on 2008-04-29. http://web.archive.org/web/20080429073407/http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/rs/profile.cfm?id=285. Retrieved 2008-05-06. 

External links

• Official website
• HanesBrands.com Company Site
• Nathan Cummings Founder
• Ambi Pur Brand website
• Cruz+Verde Insecticides website