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Northland Cranberries, Inc. Announces Quarterly Cash Dividend

4/26/00 WISCONSIN RAPIDS, Wis./PRNewswire/ -- Northland Cranberries, Inc. (Nasdaq: CBRYA - news), manufacturer and marketer of Northland brand 100% juice cranberry blends and Seneca brand fruit juice products, today announced that payment of the company's quarterly cash dividend to shareholders was approved yesterday at the regular quarterly meeting of its Board of Directors. The cash dividend of $0.04 per share of Class A stock and $0.03636 per share of Class B stock is payable on June 14, 2000 to all shareholders of record as of the close of business on May 29, 2000.

Northland is a vertically integrated grower, handler, processor and marketer of cranberries and value-added cranberry products. The company processes and sells Northland brand 100% juice cranberry blends, Seneca brand juice products, Northland brand fresh cranberries and other cranberry products through retail supermarkets and other distribution channels. Northland also sells cranberry concentrate to industrial customers who manufacture cranberry-based products. With 25 growing properties in Wisconsin and Massachusetts, Northland is the world's largest cranberry grower. It is the only publicly-owned, regularly-traded cranberry company in the United States, with shares traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the listing symbol CBRYA.

Northland stock down 14%

4/25/00 Northland stock (CBRYA) closed yesterday at a record low for the year, down 14%. Read Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article here.


Berries in Mass. will grow themselves on Northland bogs

4/22/00 Northland Cranberries is scaling down operations in Massachusetts this season and, by and large, will do the minimum necessary to bring in a crop this Fall. Read Patriot Ledger article here.


Did you know?

4/23/00 A coffee glut has pushed the coffee prices lower than they have been in seven years. Read what the coffee growers plan to do HERE.

 

Massachusetts bank to aid growers

4/25/00 "We're not foreclosing at this time. We think we can hang in with 80 to 90 percent of growers for 12 to 24 months. After that, all bets are off. Some people will be put out of business, particularly those who were overextended when times were good. Most of it was for renovations or transfers. We can work with growers for quite a while and that's what we intend to do. That's the business we're in. We have no interest in taking bogs that aren't worth anything" Bill Kiernan, Vice President, First Pioneer Farm Credit as quoted in the Patriot Ledger.

Read Patriot Ledger article HERE


Massachusetts papers deliver bad news

4/22/00 The Patriot Ledger reported on the desperate straits of cranberry growers in a story headlined "Cranberry price takes new plunge," while the Cape Cod Times entitled their story "Cranberry growers feel the big squeeze: surplus crops, low prices threaten their livelihoods."

Plymouth grower and former Ocean Spray board member Jeffrey Kapell is quoted in the Ledger as saying "I actually do not know if I will survive this... there's a good probability that I won't. Some growers won't be willing to go through this. They are in a state of incredible panic. It's like throwing water at a drowning man.''

The Ledger reports that Ocean Spray spokesperson Chris Phillips said growers could receive an additional payment in August, depending on the company's financial situation, but it wasn't guaranteed, and that prices could also drop, further forcing Ocean Spray to take back some of the money. Phillips is quoted as saying "we don't foresee that happening... we're certainly hoping this is the bottom of the crisis,'' and noting that Ocean Spray is already "backcharging'' growers for overpayments last year.

Jeff LaFleur, Executive Director of the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers' Association told the Ledger that voluntary destruction of crops could make the federal Cranberry Marketing Committee's recent request for a federal crop limit moot. He said "we may not need it if growers are going to flood their bogs, the depressed market may be enough to reduce the supply.''

Lydia Mathias, who grows cranberries in Kingston with her husband, Barry, were also interview by the Ledger after they heard Ocean Spray CEO Rob Hawthorne address a large group of Ocean Spray Growers. Speaking of the meeting Lydia Mathias said "to say the least, it was devastating, but my husband and I came away somewhat heartened that he could turn the company around... we've diversified by growing Christmas trees, which used to be just a hobby, but we won't see returns in time to help us out now... we're also selling mulch, loam and cow manure on the side, because we use them in our tree-growing operation.''

John Decas, of Decas Cranberries, told the Cape Cod Times that he thinks Ocean Spray has a rescue plan for the cooperative, which will leave many of the 268 Massachusetts growers, including the 40 to 50 on Cape Cod, "out in the cold."

Decas is quoted: "It's now become a strategic thing for Ocean Spray, they're saying 'we can't save the grower anyway, so let's get rid of this surplus as fast as we can.' " Decas alleges that Ocean Spray plans to eliminate the surplus by "destroying growers by destroying returns and using the surplus to kill the competition."

This is denied by Ocean Spray's spokesman Chris Phillips, who responded with "He doesn't know what our plans are... we're committed to the people in this company large and small... this is not a purging of people."

Phillips told the Cape Cod Times that the situation is "dismal" and would absolutely result in the loss of some growers, saying "when we emerge, there will be some people who won't be there."

According to the Times, "Phillips also acknowledged that under Ocean Spray's new chief executive officer, Robert Hawthorne, the company has taken a more aggressive approach to competition, which is fully supported by the board of directors."

Phillips, as quoted in the Times, speaking of CEO Rob Hawthorne: "He views the competition as the enemy... Ocean Spray has always been seen as this sort of benevolent competitor, letting others ride the wave of Ocean Spray. But we lost great market share because of that."

According to Phillips, Hawthorne envisions "back on it's feet" in 18 to 24 months. The Times reports that "in addition to finding new markets for Ocean Spray products, Hawthorne and his new chief financial officer, Tim Chan, have taken sweeping internal cost-cutting measures, said Phillips. He declined to be specific but characterized them as 'taking waste out and putting it back into building the brand.' "

Decas expressed general optimism, noting that Ocean Spray's practice of low grower returns and discounting its products below its competitors may lead to the elimination of one million barrels of the surplus by the end of the year. "Something's' going to emerge from the ashes," he said.

Read articles here: The Patriot Ledger | Cape Cod Times | The A.P. abridged version of the Cape Cod Times article


Last Week

Decas critical of Ocean Spray in letter to growers
Quinn announces $1 million for Cranberry Research and Outreach
Researchers Find Potential Additional Health Benefit of Cranberries
"Ocean Spray's brilliant foray into raisin territory"
Massachusetts has awarded half of million dollar cost to town of Pembroke, MA., to buy Northland property for open space

 


An online Pepsi critic's story

reprinted with permission 4/22/00 An article by Connie Hays in today's New York Times chronicles the misadventures of an animal rights activist whose web site, pepsibloodbath.com, protests Pepsi advertising at bull fighting events in Mexico and Spain.

When Pepsi stockholder Steve Hindi, who is passionate in his objections to bull fighting, went to Pepsi's annual meeting, he did so having permission to address the meeting from the floor. When he arrived, however, he was barred from entering because Pepsi said they had received a bomb threat.

Eventually the FBI and State Police investigated and cleared Hindi. The final outcome despite Hindi's difficulties, according to the New York Times:

In the end, Mr. Hindi may have lost the battle but won the war. In recent weeks, PepsiCo has withdrawn its bullfighting ads in Mexico, (Pepsi spokesperson) Mr. Detwiler said, and Mr. Hindi has posted a notice to that effect on his Web site. Mr. Detwiler said, "Mr. Hindi's was among a number of consumer voices we heard on this issue. We do not support bullfighting."

Read N.Y. Times article Here.


"Fool" calls Coke CEO a
"marketing weasel" to his face

4/21/00 Bob Landley,  who writes for The Motley Fool and owns eight shares of Coke stock, attended the Coca-Cola annual meeting and had the opportunity to address the group of some 200 stockholders as well as CEO Douglas Daft, twice. Here's how Landley describes what he said:

Douglas Daft kept repeating that refined corn syrup doesn't contain any protein or DNA left over from the corn, so it doesn't matter if it comes from genetically engineered corn or not. I got to tell him that as a marketing weasel, he should know that mere proof is not going to sway anybody's opinion when they've decided to get upset about something, and that from a marketing perspective, NOT using genetically engineered corn would be positive press for the company -- in a "we're organic" sort of way -- whereas using it would give lots of generally unhappy people a target to protest against."

The Motley Fool is "must reading" for Wall Street. In addition to offering sound investment advice and spirited discussion boards, it reports on the foibles and follies of the stock market and of corporate America. In some respects acts like a watch dog who sounds the alarm when it hears a suspicious noise in the night. Read article Here


Juice Aisle

Gatorade leads for Quaker

4/21/00 Most Stressline readers lament this fact: sports drinks, fruity flavored "belly washes" and bottled water now share what used to be accurately called the juice aisle. These products are competition for juices and juice blends. Many of them are selling well, and the sports drinks in particular compete for consumers who are health conscious.

Better than anticipated sales of Gatorade reported in Quaker's quarterly report, caused their stock to rise almost 7% yesterday, offsetting a drop in hot cereal sales.

Quaker Oats president Robert Morrison says that, "the Gatorade season in North America is just starting, but we've exploded out of the starting blocks, our U.S. business is poised to capture more of the active thirst market." The "active thirst market" is one that fruit juice companies also covet, with beverages that not only quench thirst but are good for you.

Sports drinks are formulated to replenish electrolytes lost after heavy exercise somewhat better than plain water. Clever advertising and product placement, particularly at football games, created a market for a new product.

Quaker Oats was one of the companies that was interested in acquiring Ocean Spray.

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