THOMASVILLE, Ga., May 25, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Flowers Foods (NYSE: FLO) today announced that its board of directors has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.17 per share, an increase of 6.3% over the same quarter last year. This is the 59th consecutive quarterly dividend paid by the company and is payable on June 23, 2017 to shareholders of record on June 9, 2017. This action increases the annualized dividend rate to $0.68 per share from $0.64 per share at this time last year.
"Our board and management team believe Flowers' strong cash generation supports increasing the dividend and enhancing shareholder return, even as we position our company for continued value creation," said Allen L. Shiver, Flowers Foods' President and CEO. "We continue to execute on Project Centennial to transform Flowers Foods into a more powerful branded food company, while generating substantial cash flow that strengthens our financial position and funds strategic growth initiatives, capital improvements, dividends, and share repurchases."
Flowers' annual shareholders meeting will be held today at 11:00 a.m. Eastern.
About Flowers Foods
Headquartered in Thomasville, Ga., Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE: FLO) is one of the largest producers of fresh packaged bakery foods in the United States with 2016 sales of $3.9 billion. Flowers operates bakeries across the country that produce a wide range of bakery products. Among the company's top brands are Nature's Own, Wonder, Tastykake, and Dave's Killer Bread. Learn more at www.flowersfoods.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements relate to current expectations regarding our future financial condition, performance and results of operations, planned capital expenditures, long-term objectives of management, supply and demand, pricing trends and market forces, and integration plans and expected benefits of transactions and are often identified by the use of words and phrases such as "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "predict," "project," "should," "will," "would," "is likely to," "is expected to" or "will continue," or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. 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, including changes in consumer behavior, trends and preferences, including health and whole grain trends, and the movement toward more inexpensive store-branded 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) energy and raw material costs and availability and hedging and counterparty risk, (g) our ability to fully integrate recent acquisitions into our business, (h) our ability to achieve cash flow from capital expenditures and acquisitions and the availability of new acquisitions that build shareholder value; (i) consolidation within the baking industry and related industries; (j) disruptions in our direct-store delivery system, including litigation or an adverse ruling from a court or regulatory or government body that could affect the independent contractor classification of our independent distributors, and (k) the failure of our information technology systems to perform adequately, including any interruptions, intrusions or security breaches of such systems. The foregoing list of important factors does not include all such factors, nor necessarily present them in order of importance. In addition, you should consult other disclosures made by the company, including the risk factors included in our most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and disclosures made in other filings with the SEC and company press releases, for other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected by the company. We caution you not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, as they speak only as of the date made and are inherently uncertain. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly revise or update such statements, except as required by law.
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SOURCE Flowers Foods, Inc.
Investor Contact: J.T. Rieck (229) 227-2348; Media Contact: Paul Baltzer (229) 227-2380