ConAgra Foods Inc. said Thursday it is planning to cut 1,500 jobs and relocate its headquarters to Chicago, as it looks to realize at least $300 million of savings and streamlining in the next three years. The food giant expects to save about $200 million through the job cuts and other savings such as zero-based budgeting, eliminating management layers and outsourcing technology and other back office functions. The company expects to realize another $100 million of benefits from changes to trade spend processes. The job cuts are equal to 30% of the company’s office-based workforce, it said in a statement. The company is aiming to build a “focused, higher-margin, more contemporary and higher-performing company,” Chief Executive Sean Connolly said in a statement. The company will begin the move to Chicago in the summer of 2016, but will retain a presence in Omaha with about 1,200 employees. Shares were not yet active in premarket trade, but are up 12% in the year so far, while the S&P 500 has lost 6.7%.
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