Sara Lee to incur charge in fiscal 4th quarter

Sara Lee said the non-cash impairment charge is between $865 million and $975 million, or $1.17 per share to $1.32 per share, and will be recorded in the fiscal fourth quarter ended June 28.

The company said that a weak economy and rising wheat costs for its Spanish bakery and North American Foodservice bakery operations will cause it to take a goodwill impairment charge between $800 million and $900 million in the fourth quarter.

Also, Sara Lee will record a non-cash write-down of $65 million to $75 million, before taxes, for certain other assets in North America.

"Today's announcement is consistent with our second and third quarter disclosures, in which we identified our North American Foodservice bakery and Spanish bakery businesses as at risk for future goodwill impairment," Brenda C. Barnes, chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement.

For the fourth quarter, analysts polled by Thomson Financial are expecting earnings of 26 cents per share and revenue of $3.48 billion.

Sara Lee will report fiscal fourth-quarter and full-year results on Aug. 7.