The company said that while it is impossible to predict the one-time impact on shipments and earnings, it believes earnings for the fiscal year are likely to be 18 to 23 cents per share below published estimates. Substantially all of the shortfall is expected to be in the second quarter. This growth is driven by broad-based business success. We have also strengthened our U.S. soup franchise, increasing market share against all branded competitors. While we have improved the performance of our condensed soup business, consumption has been below expectations.
Condensed soup remains a critical part of our business portfolio and a key growth opportunity.
The high costs of an inefficient supply chain are simply not acceptable. We are investing in our strong portfolio of brands, acquiring complementary businesses, and streamlining our assets. This release contains certain forward-looking statements concerning Campbell's operations, economic performance, financial condition, sales, earnings, volume growth, new product introductions, and cost reduction programs. These statements reflect the company's current plans and expectations and are based on information currently available to it. They rely on a number of assumptions and estimates which could be inaccurate and which are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the company's actual results to vary materially from the results anticipated.