UPDATE: Flowers Foods Announces 3-for-2 Stock Split, Raises Qtr. Dividend to $0.1125/Share Split Adjusted

Prior to the Flowers Foods(NYSE: FLO) annual shareholders meeting today, the company's board ofdirectors declared a three-for-two split of the company's stock by means of a50% stock dividend and also increased the annual cash dividend by $.035. Thisequates to a 5.5% increase over the previous dividend rate. Both the stocksplit and the dividend are payable on June 19, 2013, to shareholders of recordon June 5, 2013.Following the split, Flowers shareholders will own three shares for every twoshares they held on the record date and the quarterly dividend rate will be$.1125 per share, or $.45 per share on an annualized basis.The board is confident in the company's future performance, according toGeorge E. Deese, Executive Chairman. "The board believes Flowers Foods is inan excellent position to reward our shareholders with an increased dividend,allowing our investors to continue participating in the company's success overthe long term," he said. "In addition, the stock split will increase theliquidity of our stock and attract new shareholders." Allen L. Shiver, president and newly elected CEO, cited Flowers' operationaland marketplace performance as one of the reasons the leadership team hasconfidence in the company's future. "Our long-term strategy of investing inour bakeries, brands, products, and our team has created competitiveadvantages that are helping us deliver record results," he said.