Record Full-Year Results from Operations

For the full year 2004, consolidated net sales were $4,429,248,000 compared with $4,172,551,000 for 2003, an increase of 6.2 percent. Net income for 2004 was $590,879,000, or $2.30 per share-diluted, compared with $457,584,000, or $1.73 per share-diluted, for 2003.

Net income for 2004 includes the benefit of a $61.1 million, or $.24 per share-diluted, non-cash reduction of income tax expense resulting from the second quarter adjustment to tax reserves following the completion of prior years’ tax audits. Net income for 2003 includes an after-tax charge of $7.4 million, or $.03 per share-diluted, associated with the cumulative effect of the change in accounting for the Company’s leases for certain warehouse and distribution facilities. The results for 2003 also include pre-tax charges related to business rationalization and realignment initiatives of $25.5 million, or $.05 per share-diluted, and a pre-tax gain on the sale of certain gum brands of $8.3 million, or $.02 per share-diluted.

A discussion of the non-cash reduction of income tax expense is contained in Note 15 of the Company’s Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended October 3, 2004. The components of the 2003 brand and product rationalization initiatives and realignment of the sales organization are described in Management’s Discussion and Analysis, and Note 4 to the Consolidated Financial Statements, contained in the Company’s 2003 Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Excluding the items mentioned above, net income for 2004 was $529,798,000, or $2.06 per share-diluted, compared with $474,734,000, or $1.79 per share-diluted, for 2003, an increase of 15.1 percent.