Snyder's-Lance is to close its Perry (Fla.) Chips Plant, restructure its Sales Organization and eliminate 250 Positions worldwide

Snyder's-Lance, Inc. (Nasdaq:LNCE) announced today it has launched a broad-based performance transformation plan, intended to substantially streamline the Company's processes and structure, drive out costs and complexity, and enhance long-term shareholder value.

As part of this transformation plan, the Company has implemented the following initial steps:

• Restructure its Sales Organization
  
  To better respond to the needs of its customers, the Company has announced plans to restructure its sales organization enabling greater alignment of the Company's people, resources and strategies with those of its Customers. In connection with the restructure, the Company is announcing the appointment of John Maples as Chief Customer Officer, effective immediately.
  
  Mr. Maples joined Snyder's-Lance in 2015 and most recently served as President, Direct Sales Division. Mr. Maples has played a central role in the growth and development of the Company's Club, Dollar, Food Service, Discount and center-store Grocery channels. Mr. Maples has an extensive consumer background with over 25 years of CPG experience to include executive roles at ConAgra, Primo Water, and PepsiCo.
  
  In addition, and as part of the re-organization, Frank Schuster, currently President, DSD Division, has been appointed to President, Sales Execution reporting to Mr. Maples, and will continue to lead the Company's national distribution network and in-store execution.


• Close its chips plant in Perry, Florida
  
  In an effort to optimize the Company's global manufacturing network, the Company is announcing the closure of its chips plant in Perry, Florida.
  
  The plant is expected to close by the end of September 2017.
  
  This decision is intended to enable the Company to more effectively utilize the capacity of its remaining chips plants and re-allocate resources to support the Company's growth objectives.


• Reduce its global workforce by 250 positions
  
  An important element of the Company's transformation plan is to optimize workforce alignment with more streamlined processes and a new organization design that will be implemented across the Company.
  
  As a result, the Company will reduce its global workforce by approximately 250 positions. The reductions will occur across the organization and will be effective by the end of this week.

Brian Driscoll, President and Chief Executive Officer of Snyder's-Lance, commented on the Company's workforce reduction and plant closure:

“This has been a very difficult decision for our organization and we sincerely appreciate how difficult this is for our impacted team members and their families.”

“However, this is a required first step to improve our financial performance, balancing costs and expected levels of profitability in a very competitive environment.”

“These actions are in-line with our previously communicated intentions to initiate a broad-based strategic plan to optimize our cost structure.”

“We will provide a comprehensive overview of the multi-year transformation plan when we report our second quarter financial results on August 8th.