Campbell Soup plunges as CEO exits

The struggles at Campbell Soup burst into full view on Friday.

The abrupt exit of CEO Denise Morrison on Friday and the announcement of a strategic review even before a new leader is in place hinted at chaotic decision-making behind the scenes.

Morrison's retirement was effective immediately, after seven years in the job.

Investors, who also were digesting a full-year forecast that fell short of estimates, reacted wearily to the uncertainty surrounding the canned-soup maker. Pessimism on a conference call that followed the results helped push shares down as much as 12 percent to $34.35, the biggest intraday decline in almost two decades.

Morrison, 64, who took the helm in 2011, is the latest chief executive to fall victim to the slump in the U.S. packaged-food industry that claimed the leaders of Kellogg and Mondelez International.

She tried - and failed - to move beyond canned soup to ignite sales growth as Americans change how they eat and shop.

The turmoil of Friday's announcement points to problems specific to Campbell. In the quarter ended April 29, the company took another writedown on a fresh-food business that Morrison bought as part of her first big deal as a CEO, hurting the operating margin, which slumped to a historic low.

While the timing of her retirement was unexpected, the ongoing struggles at the C-Fresh unit likely were at the root of it, according to Brittany Weissman, an analyst at Edward Jones.

'It's been a never-ending thorn in their side,” she said. 'It's not getting any better - that seems to be the crux of the problem.”

Morrison will be replaced on an interim basis by Keith McLoughlin, a former CEO at Electrolux who has been a board member since 2016.

The Camden, New Jersey-based company also said it will start a strategic review of its businesses, which will 'take several months to complete.”