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Campbell CEO resigns
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March 22, 2000: 6:49 p.m. ET
Morrison ends three-year tenure; former CEO Johnson to serve as interim chief
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Campbell Soup Co. announced Wednesday that President and Chief Executive Officer Dale Morrison has resigned, ending a three-year tenure marked by shrinking market share in its tough-to-grow core soup business.
David Johnson, who served in that position at the Camden N.J.-based maker of soups and sauces from 1990 to 1997, will return as company interim CEO while Campbell looks for a full-time replacement. Philip E. Lippincott will remain the company's chairman.
One analyst said she expected Morrison would be out by year-end, particularly because Campbell seems likely to pre-announce that it will miss analysts' consensus estimates for the next two quarters. According to the research firm First Call Corp., Wall Street analysts expect Campbell to post earnings of 39 cents per share in its current fiscal third quarter and 33 cents per share in its fiscal fourth quarter.
"There's a belief that the company is going to miss the consensus [earnings estimate] in a big way," said Jaine Mehring, an analyst with Salomon Smith Barney. "It has certainly been a difficult tenure for Dale, but you have to give him the benefit of the doubt - he was dealt a really tough hand by David [when Morrison took the helm in 1997]."
Morrison, 51, took over as president and CEO on June 30, 1997. Asked about where Morrison would go, a company spokesman said: "He has not made his plans known at this time." The company did not ask Morrison to leave, the spokesman added.
Shares of Campbell (CPB: Research, Estimates), which also makes Pepperidge Farm cookies, Prego pasta sauce and Godiva chocolates, fell 1-11/16 to 29-11/16 on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday ahead of the announcement.
Campbell's board held a regularly scheduled meeting Wednesday. The company's market share in soup has dwindled to about 60 percent, after once being as high as 90 percent. The company has struggled to build new products and pricing strategies - to little effect.
No 'magic potion'
The resignation comes just a month after Campbell reported a 28 percent rise in earnings for its fiscal second quarter compared to levels a year ago - but the last-year's numbers were weak, making an improvement easier.
Campbell shares, Mehring said, have recently been valued higher than what the company's fundamental business outlook would normally merit largely due to looming speculation about a buyout or an executive shake-up.
But, she said, "You can put any CEO you want in there, but it's not clear that anyone has the magic potion to make the soup business grow."
The company has unveiled a string of disappointing earnings reports over the past year, Mehring said.
"I've asked the company for some time [about whether Morrison would leave], and the [recent] answer was 'who knows'," said Mehring.
Campbell is 51-percent owned by the Dorrance family, heirs to John T. Dorrance, who was credited with the invention of condensed soup. 
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Campbell Soup Co.
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