A New Jersey federal judge has canned a consolidated proposed securities class action against Campbell Soup Co. over its rosy financial projections for the company’s fresh foods division, finding that investors had not sufficiently alleged the food giant acted knowingly or recklessly in making purported misrepresentations.
Lead plaintiff the Oklahoma Firefighters Pension and Retirement System, which sought to represent a class of investors who bought Campbell stock between July 19, 2017, and May 17, 2018, has claimed Campbell duped investors into purchasing stock to boost the company’s overall credit rating to complete Campbell Fresh’s acquisition of Snyder’s-Lance Inc., the opinion said.
But Campbell has offered a more compelling narrative that following a recall by Campbell Fresh’s Bolthouse Farms, company executives really believed that “through the sale of other products not affected by the recall, introduction of new beverage products, increases in capacity of beverages, and cost cuts the company would be profitable again in FY18,” according to the opinion.
Campbell is represented by McCarter’s Robert Mintz and Brian Carroll and Weil, Gotshal & Manges.