Flowers Foods' Shiver and Avera Exercised Options with Intent to Hold Shares

THOMASVILLE, Ga., Dec. 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Flowers Foods, Inc. FLO, the second-largest producer and marketer of packaged bakery foods in the United States, today announced that Allen L. Shiver, president and chief executive officer, and Stephen R. Avera, executive vice president, secretary, and general counsel, exercised stock options this week.

Mr. Shiver exercised options for 82,125 shares in a transaction with the company. He intends to hold for the foreseeable future the shares of Flowers Foods common stock obtained through this option exercise, net of those shares necessary to cover the exercise price and related tax liability. The options were granted to Mr. Shiver in 2008 under the company's Equity and Performance Incentive Plan and will expire in February 2015. Following the completion of this exercise, Mr. Shiver will hold approximately 529,000 shares of Flowers Foods common stock, well in excess of the company's stock ownership guidelines.

Mr. Avera exercised options for 78,862 shares in a transaction with the company. He intends to hold for the foreseeable future the shares of Flowers Foods common stock obtained through this option exercise, net of those shares necessary to cover the exercise price and related tax liability. The options were granted to Mr. Avera in 2008 under the company's Equity and Performance Incentive Plan and will expire in February 2015. Following the completion of this exercise, Mr. Avera will hold approximately 352,000 shares of Flowers Foods common stock, well in excess of the company's stock ownership guidelines.

About Flowers Foods

Headquartered in Thomasville, Ga., Flowers Foods, Inc. FLO is one of the largest producers of fresh packaged bakery foods in the United States with 2013 sales of $3.75 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, and Tastykake. 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 future transactions by our President and Chief Executive Officer and our Executive Vice President, Secretary, and General Counsel in our common stock 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; and (j) 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 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.