Segment Information

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

Segment Information

Note 12 – Segment Information

The company reports three business segments:

• Bananas: Includes the sourcing (purchase and production), transportation, marketing and distribution of bananas.

• Salads and Healthy Snacks: Includes ready-to-eat, packaged salads, referred to in the industry as "value-added salads" and other value-added products, such as healthy snacking products, fresh vegetable and fruit ingredients used in food service; processed fruit ingredient products; and the company's equity method investment in Danone Chiquita Fruits, which sells Chiquita-branded fruit smoothies in Europe (See Note 13).

• Other Produce: Includes the sourcing, marketing and distribution of whole fresh fruits and vegetables other than bananas.

Certain corporate expenses are not allocated to the reportable segments and are included in "Corporate costs," including costs related to the relocation of the company's headquarters described in Note 2. Inter-segment transactions are eliminated. Segment information represents only continuing operations.

Financial information for each segment follows:

	Quarter ended March 31,
(In thousands)	2012			2011
Net sales:
Bananas	$	520,226		$	538,782
Salads and Healthy Snacks	237,813			238,481
Other Produce	35,445			47,200
	$	793,484		$	824,463
Operating income (loss):
Bananas1	$	19,015		$	56,218
Salads and Healthy Snacks2	266			6,039
Other Produce3	(6,002		)	(3,044		)
Corporate costs	(13,713		)	(17,013		)
	$	(434	)	$	42,200

¹  Includes the acceleration of $6 million of losses on ship sublease arrangements in the first quarter of 2012, net of $2 million of related sale-leaseback gain amortization during the sublease period. As part of the company's European shipping reconfiguration, five ships, two in the fourth quarter of 2011 and three in the first quarter of 2012, were removed from service and subleased. The primary leases for an equivalent number of ships will not be renewed at the end of 2012. These accelerated sublease losses are included in "Cost of sales."

²  Includes $1 million ($1 million, net of tax) in "Cost of sales" in the first quarter of 2012, primarily related to inventory write-offs, to exit healthy snacking products that were not sufficiently profitable and $1 million in "Selling, general and administrative" to restructure our European healthy snacking sales force. These actions were completed during the first quarter of 2012.

³  Includes $2 million ($1 million, net of tax) in "Cost of sales" in the first quarter of 2012, primarily related to inventory write-offs, to exit low-margin other produce.