Weekly Food Industry Report: June 21, 2013

Every week, we take a look into some of the biggest financial news to emerge from the world of food. Here is this week's:

Popcorn, Indiana: Popcorn, Indiana announced its first creative partnership with Design and Acquisition, a full service agency in New York City. D&A will create and lead the brand positioning, as well as launch marketing campaigns that will focus on furthering Popcorn, Indiana's mission to change the concept of snacking for consumers.

Mead Johnson: Mead Johnson Nutrition Company announced there will be a quarterly dividend of $0.34 per share until the quarter's end on June 30. The dividend will be paid on July 5 to shareholders.

Arway Confections, Inc: Arway Confections agreed to purchase Long Grove Confectionary Company. Arway Confections plans to keep the Long Grove name, its store open, and the current employees, including their vice president David Mangel and director of operations Dwayne Hallan. 

Armanino Foods: Armanino Foods declared an increase on their regular quarterly dividend of $0.014 per share. This has increased 16.67% from the prior regular quarterly dividend of $0.012. The dividend will be payable around July 26 to shareholders, and is the company's 52nd consecutive regular quarterly dividend.

Campbell Soup: Campbell Soup Company has acquired Plum Organics, the number two brand of organic baby food in the United States, and the fourth best baby food brand overall, generating $93 million in gross sales this past year. Campbell will operate Plum as a standalone business, with Plum Organics' current management team continuing to lead the company.

Johnny Rockets: Johnny Rockets chain has been acquired by Sun Capital Partners. The company's asking price was between $100 and $150 million, which were nine to thirteen times earnings before EBITDA of $12 million. There will be no change in Johnny Rockets management. The chain has 220 locations in the U.S., and only 30 are company owned, and they have enjoyed nine consecutive quarters of same-store sales growth.

Noodles & Company: Noodles & Company set the terms for their initial public offering as high as $77.5 million. Their Class A common stock will be priced between $13 and $15, so with an IPO price of $14 per share, the company would raise roughly $67.1 million. Most of the proceeds will be used to repay company debt, and the company said their revenue for the fiscal year that ended Jan 1, 2013 was $300 million, an increase from $256 the prior year, with a net income of $5.2 million. 

We're always on the lookout for tips about the week's financial news, so if you think there's any that we have missed, let us know!