Our 2006 report provided a year two update on our progress against our Quality Growth Plan. It also created an opportunity for us to reflect on our progress over my full five-year tenure with the company. “On the move” was chosen to capture the optimism we were increasingly developing for our prospects moving forward. My shareholder message communicated my sentiments; “It’s been over five years since I joined Campbell Soup Company and we unveiled our plans to revitalize our business with a sound strategic-growth plan. We have made significant investments since then – to improve our product quality and packaging, strengthen our marketing programs, develop a robust innovation pipeline, improve our information systems, and upgrade supply chain effectiveness.
We also have improved our financial profile, enhanced our relationships with our customers, deepened our connections with our consumers, and consistently improved employee engagement. As a result, Campbell is a formidable force in the global food industry. We are a company “on the move.”
In this same report, we began to develop areas of organization focus in simple meals where we were heavily anchored in soup, baked snacks, cookies and crackers. We also reported the divestiture of our sizeable U.K./ Ireland business as it did not fit our evolving portfolio strategy. Finally, we proudly reported that we had once again hit our action standards for winning in the marketplace and winning in the workplace.
