Fred's Announces Promotion of Timothy A. Liebmann to Chief Operating Officer - Pharmacy

MEMPHIS, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Fred's Inc. FRED today announced that Timothy A. Liebmann, Vice President of Pharmacy Services, has been promoted to newly created role of Chief Operating Officer – Pharmacy, effective immediately. Liebmann succeeds Rick A. Chambers, Executive Vice President – Pharmacy Operations, who is retiring from the Company.

Prior to joining Fred's in June 2016, Liebmann was with SUNRx, LLC, a prescription benefit manager and wholly owned subsidiary of MedImpact Healthcare Systems. Liebmann founded SUNRx in 2007 and served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer until the company's acquisition by MedImpact Healthcare Systems in 2012, after which he served as Vice President of Pharmacy for SUNRx until he joined Fred's.

Commenting on the announcement, Jerry A. Shore, Chief Executive Officer, said, "We are indeed grateful to Rick for his many dedicated years of service to Fred's, having started his career with Fred's in 1992 as a pharmacist in one of the Company's stores and advancing quickly to his current position. We wish him the best in his retirement. We are also very pleased to be able to promote a veteran with more than 25 years of proven leadership in the pharmacy industry to this important role. Tim has an impressive track record, spanning a broad range of expertise and experience that includes all aspects of pharmacy management as well as financial and operational management. We are confident that he will continue to build on our mission to improve lives of patients and customers by providing quality healthcare services."

Michael K. Bloom, President and Chief Operating Officer, added, "I have great confidence in Tim's ability to develop the vision and strategy necessary to energize both Retail and Specialty Pharmacy growth at Fred's. He is a great addition to our leadership team and has, through experience, developed a keen focus on the importance of the shared and separate interests of patients and physicians."

Fred's, Inc. and subsidiaries operate 651 discount general merchandise stores and three specialty pharmacy-only locations in 15 states in the southeastern United States. Included in the store count are 18 franchised locations. Also, there are 372 full service pharmacy departments located within Fred's stores, including four franchised locations. For more information about the Company, visit Fred's website at www.fredsinc.com.

Comments in this news release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. A reader can identify forward-looking statements because they are not limited to historical facts or they use such words as "outlook," "guidance," "may," "should," "could," "believe," "anticipate," "plan," "expect," "estimate," "forecast," "goal," "intend," "committed," "continue," or "will likely result" and similar expressions that concern the Company's strategy, plans, intentions or beliefs about future occurrences or results. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those associated with the Company's announced strategic plan, the ultimate terms of the reworked pharmacy distribution agreement, lease buyouts and the underlying assumptions and projections upon which they are based, as well as risks that intended results may not be achieved or may not occur as quickly as expected; the success of announced acquisition activities and future growth trends in businesses acquired; general economic trends; changes in consumer demand or purchase patterns; delays or interruptions in the flow of merchandise between the Company's distribution centers and its stores or between the Company's suppliers and same; a disruption in the Company's data processing services; cyber-security threats; costs and delays in acquiring or developing new store sites; and the factors listed under "Risk Factors" in the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly filings on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made. Fred's undertakes no obligation to release revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unforeseen events, except as required to be reported under the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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