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Aloha to Hawaiian Punch
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November 11, 1998: 10:45 a.m. ET
Procter & Gamble may sell popular drink brand to focus on 'Sunny D'
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Household products maker Procter & Gamble may bid aloha to its Hawaiian Punch juice drink.
The Cincinnati-based company said Wednesday is it "exploring options" for the brand.
Those options, it said, include a possible divestiture.
"Hawaiian Punch is a strong, profitable brand, but we have more strategic opportunities for our food and beverage business," said Stephen P. Donovan, president of the company's food and beverage business. "That's where we want to focus our resources."
Procter & Gamble said it will focus its brand recognition efforts on what other brands, such as Pringles potato chips and Sunny Delight juice drinks, while at the same time developing new businesses like its fat-free cooking oil, Olean.
Hawaiian Punch accounted for 3 percent of Procter & Gamble's total food and beverage sales in fiscal 1998.
The company, with global sales last year of $37.2 billion, already is contacting potential buyers for the juice drink brand. If an acceptable offer isn't received, Procter & Gamble said it will hold onto the brand.
The Dow component also owns Folgers coffee, Crisco cooking oils and Jif peanut butter, along with Cover Girl cosmetics, Tide laundry detergent and Pampers diapers.
Shares of Procter & Gamble (PG) were up ½ at 90-1/2 per share on the New York Stock Exchange following the news, not far off its 52-week high of 94 a share.
Late last month, Procter & Gamble posted fiscal first-quarter net income of $1.17 billion, or 80 cents a share, up 7 percent from $1.09 billion, or 73 cents, a year earlier. Analysts expected the company to earn 77 cents a share.
In September, the company also appointed Durk Jager, then its president and chief operating officer, to replace John Pepper as chief executive officer beginning Jan. 1.
He will take over Pepper's seat as chairman of the board next September, when the company's reorganization is complete. 
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Procter & Gamble
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