SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
---------------------
FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported) December 7, 2000
AGWAY INC.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Delaware 2-22791 15-0277720
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(State or other jurisdiction (Commission (IRS Employer
of incorporation) File Number) Identification No.)
333 Butternut Drive, DeWitt, New York 13214
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)
Registrant's telephone number, including area code (315) 449-6436
1
<PAGE>
ITEM 5. OTHER EVENTS
On December 7, 2000, the Board of Directors of Agway Inc. ("Agway") approved a
plan to realign the Agriculture segment of Agway's business (the "Plan"). The
Plan is intended to realign the Agriculture segment with the continuing
concentration of farming and our member farmers in the northeastern United
States and to convert the segment's historic operating losses to profits by
fiscal 2003. The Plan calls for the formation of a Feed Division and an Agronomy
Division that will be structured to enable Agway to act as an aggressive
wholesaler of its agricultural products in its traditional marketplace and as an
aggressive retailer in select markets. It is expected that this realignment will
take 18 months to complete and will involve the conversion of some existing
Agway-owned facilities to dealer operations, as well as the sale or closing of
some existing Agway-owned facilities. It is probable that there will be costs
for such items as severance pay and inventory liquidation which will contribute
to losses during the transition period. Further, it is also expected there will
be gains, and possibly losses, related to the sale, shut-down or conversion of
facilities. The level of gain or loss will be determined on a
transaction-by-transaction basis over the transition period and cannot presently
be reasonably estimated. Once costs associated with these plans can be
reasonably estimated, these costs will be accrued and, to the extent material,
disclosed when appropriate. During this transition period, we expect continued
losses from the Agriculture segment's operations, potentially at higher levels
in fiscal 2001 than in fiscal 2000, due in part to the costs associated with the
Plan. In fiscal 2002, while still in the transition phase, the Agriculture
segment's operating losses in total will likely continue, but we expect
substantial improvement in the Agriculture Segment's operating results to begin.
2
<PAGE>
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the
registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
AGWAY INC.
(Registrant)
Date December 14, 2000 By /s/ PETER J. O'NEILL
----------------------- ------------------------------
Peter J. O'Neill
Senior Vice President
Finance & Control
(Principal Financial Officer and
Chief Accounting Officer)
3
