During a call with analysts to coincide with its results for the three months ended March 31, in which Dean Foods reported a net income loss of $73.74m, focus turned to the company's recent decision to bring its 31 regional fresh milk brands under a single national banner, DairyPure.
DairyPure, America's first national fresh milk brand, now features on bottles of milk sold under all 31 of Dean Foods' regional brands, including Dean's (Wisconsin, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio), Oak Farm (Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas), Alta Dean (California, Arizona), Mayfield (Florida, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee), and Meadow Gold (Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Washington, Oregon, Hawaii).
Speaking with analysts, Gregg Tanner, CEO, Dean Foods, rubbished the suggestion it is "planning to migrate away from these trademarks over time."
He said its 31 regional fresh milk brands "are not going away."
"...we do not plan to migrate away from them," Tanner told analysts. "They'll continue to serve as endorsers to DairyPure."
"Easing commodity environment"
Shares in Dean Foods climbed as high as $17.94 yesterday, despite it reporting a net income loss of $73.74m for the first quarter of 2015.
The loss - deeper than the $8.9m loss it reported in the first quarter of 2014 - included $109.9m in charges related to the launch of DairyPure.
Net sales for the quarter came in at $2.05bn - down from the $2.341bn reported by Dean Foods in Q1 2014.
Thanks to a fall in costs, attributed in part to declining milk prices, Dean Foods was able to report gross profit of $478.3m for the quarter - up from $416m in Q1 2014.
"Dean Foods' first quarter results reflect solid execution within an easing commodity environment," said Chris Bellairs, chief financial officer (CFO), Dean Foods.