Sara Lee Corp., whose units supply packaged meat, baked goods and apparel, said Wednesday it has agreed to sell its U.S. retail coffee business to Italy-based Segafredo Zanetti Group for $82.5 million in order to tighten its focus on other businesses.

As a result of the sale, Sara Lee will record a pretax impairment charge of $44 million, of which $29 million is related to goodwill and $15 million is related to other long-lived assets. The charge reflects the difference between the sale price to Segafredo Zanetti and the carrying value of the U.S. Coffee business on Sara Lee's books. After taxes, the charge amounts to $39 million, or 5 cents per share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call forecast earnings of 27 cents per share, on average, for the fiscal first quarter.

Find out more about Sara Lee's move out of the coffee business at http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.asp?feed=AP&Date=20051026&ID=5224712.