Diamond Foods Case Study Solution

Leading up to 2012, Diamond Food's had been a rising superstar on Wall Street. The company transformed itself from a sleepy cooperative nut distributor to a 21st century snack power house. While some of that transformation was done organically through better marketing and margin expansion, most of the company's transformation was done through acquisitions. Mr. Mendes, the CEO of Diamond, believed that better prospects lie outside the wholesale industry and refocused the company on the providing relatively healthy snack options at grocery stores. In the broad sense Diamond had been doing well up until 2011, but it would not last. Given the historical performance from 2006 to 2011, Diamond Foods had been a strong bottom line performer, but lacked

The company increased its long-term debt from 20 million to over 530 million from 2006 to 2011. This significantly increased its Debt to Equity Ratio from 0.18 to 1.17 over the previous fiver years. The increase in debt also hindered the company's current ratio and interest coverage ratio as time went on. As seen by the debt covenants and the decline in AP days, creditors began to feel uneasy about the amount of debt being taken on by the company. In a relatively short period of time a walnut distributor had taken the snack segment by storm and was poised to make a multi-billion dollar bid for Pringles. That could only happen through the extensive use of

Mendes, the Chief Executive Officer, also being the Chairman of the Board. The board has a wealth of management experience while also having a unique depth of knowledge in the industry. Three of Diamond's board members are direct carry-overs from its predecessor, Walnut Diamond Growers. These board members bring direct industry knowledge over their many years in managing the walnut cooperative before Diamond Foods went public. The board also represents significant management experience in other industries. Five previous C-suite executives sit on the board. These members bring a significant knowledge base in the financial, strategic and general management of large companies. Rounding out the board are two inside directors, Mr. Mendes and Mr. Neil, Diamond's CFO. Furthermore, the board consists of an audit committee, compensation committee, and a nominating & governance committee. Given the wealth of industry knowledge and management experience, the company's board had the capability to successfully govern Diamond Foods as it continued to