Flowers Foods Acquires Tortilla Maker Leo's Foods
October 19 2009 - 8:30AM
PR Newswire (US)
THOMASVILLE, Ga., Oct. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Flowers Foods,
Inc. (NYSE:FLO) today announced it has acquired Leo's Foods, Inc.,
in Ft. Worth, Texas. Terms were not disclosed. (Logo:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080530/CLF007LOGO ) With
annual sales of approximately $30 million, Leo's Foods is a
family-owned business with one tortilla facility in Ft. Worth and
230 employees. The company makes an extensive line of flour and
corn tortillas and tortilla chips that are sold to foodservice and
institutional customers nationwide under Leo's, Juarez, and
customer brands. It was founded in 1978 by Leo Jimenez and Sule
Jimenez, recognized leaders in the tortilla industry, who serve as
president and finance executive, respectively. Leo's Foods will
operate as a subsidiary of Flowers Bakeries under its current name
and will continue to serve existing customers with quality tortilla
products. Owners Leo and Sule Jimenez have announced plans to
retire following the sale. Jaime Garcia will remain Leo's general
manager. George E. Deese, Flowers Foods' chairman of the board,
chief executive officer, and president, said, "Leo's Foods brings
to Flowers a solid company with decades of experience in making
high-quality tortilla products. Leo's will allow us to expand our
presence in the tortilla market, which we have been serving since
1994 with our Mi Casa brand, and it aligns well with our
foodservice business. We're pleased to have this fine organization
join Flowers Foods." Headquartered in Thomasville, Ga., Flowers
Foods, with annual sales of over $2.4 billion, is one of the
nation's leading producers and marketers of packaged bakery foods
for retail and foodservice customers. Flowers operates 39 bakeries
that produce a wide range of bakery products sold through an
extensive direct-store-delivery network that encompasses the
Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Southwest as well as select markets in
California and Nevada, and nationwide through other delivery
systems. Among the company's top brands are Nature's Own,
Whitewheat, Cobblestone Mill, Blue Bird, and Mrs. Freshley's. For
more information, visit http://www.flowersfoods.com/. Statements
contained in this press release that are not historical facts are
forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are
subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results
to differ from those projected. Other factors that may cause actual
results to differ from the forward-looking statements contained in
this release and that may affect the company's prospects in general
include, but are not limited to, (a) competitive conditions in the
baked foods industry, including promotional and price competition,
(b) changes in consumer demand for our products, (c) the success of
productivity improvements and new product introductions, (d) a
significant reduction in business with any of our major customers
including a reduction from adverse developments in any of our
customer's business, (e) fluctuations in commodity pricing, (f) our
ability to fully integrate recent acquisitions into our business,
and (g) our ability to achieve cash flow from capital expenditures
and acquisitions and the availability of new acquisitions that
build shareholder value. In addition, our results may also be
affected by general factors such as economic and business
conditions (including the baked foods markets), interest and
inflation rates and such other factors as are described in the
company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080530/CLF007LOGODATASOURCE:
Flowers Foods, Inc. CONTACT: Mary Krier, Vice President of
Communications, Flowers Foods, +1-229- 227-2333 Web Site:
http://www.flowersfoods.com/
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