Robert Hawk Resigns as Northland President; Ricke Kress Appointed Successor
Company Reports Third Quarter Financial Results

7/5/01 -- Press Release -- Northland Cranberries, Inc., manufacturer and marketer of Northland brand 100% juice cranberry blends and Seneca brand fruit juice products, today reported fiscal 2001 third quarter financial results for the three-month period ended May 31, 2001. The company announced a loss for the period of $2.4 million, or $0.12 per share, on revenues of $30.3 million. For the comparable period last year, the company reported a net loss of $4.4 million, or $0.22 per share, on revenues of $61.4 million. Year-to-date revenues for the nine-month period ending May 31, 2001 were $107.5 million, with a net loss of $3.6 million, or $0.18 per share. Last year's comparable period showed revenues of $205.0 million, with a net loss of $25.1 million, or $1.24 per share.

John Swendrowski, Northland Chairman and CEO, stated, ``Our third quarter results reflect the continuation of our efforts to implement a comprehensive turnaround plan and, at the same time, satisfy the obligations to our creditors under the terms of our existing debt arrangements. The elements of our turnaround plan, which include a consolidation of our sales and marketing efforts through our alliance with Crossmark, Inc., a corporate-wide focus on profitability as opposed to revenue growth, the ''27% Solution`` reformulation of our flagship Northland brand 100% juice products, the restructuring of our manufacturing operations and a reduction of total personnel, have produced positive results. However, we are still confronted by major challenges due to the interest expense on current debt levels. From an operational standpoint, we feel that we have made significant improvements over last year, resulting in income from operations of $1.3 million for the quarter and $6.2 million for the first nine months of the year. This compares to a loss from operations last year of $1.2 million for the third quarter and $28.7 million for the first nine months of fiscal 2000. Going forward, we expect to continue our efforts to reduce costs, as we attempt to produce and sell quality cranberry products in a highly competitive market. Also, we will continue to actively explore alternative sources of debt and equity capital, as well as potential corporate reorganization transactions, in order to significantly reduce our interest expense, restructure our debt and equity capitalization structure and provide additional funds to more actively support our branded product sales.''

In other company news, Robert E. Hawk, President and Chief Operating Officer, as well as a Director of Northland, announced his resignation today in order to pursue other business opportunities. Ricke Kress, formerly the company's Executive Vice President, has been named his successor. Regarding the executive change, John Swendrowski stated, ``we will certainly miss the drive and dedication Bob Hawk contributed to Northland over the past decade as we evolved from a grower of cranberries into a national juice company. We wish him every success in his future endeavors. Ricke Kress has extensive leadership experience in the juice business with Seneca and has worked closely with Bob Hawk in his capacity as Executive Vice President. We have every confidence in Ricke's ability to carry out the duties of company President and Chief Operating Officer.''

Kress joined Northland in 1998 when the company acquired three of Seneca's manufacturing plants. While at Seneca, Kress held positions of Executive Vice President and President of the Seneca Juice Division.

Reporting on company actions taken to comply with the recently announced USDA marketing order that restricts this year's industry-wide cranberry production to 65% of an historic average, Swendrowski stated that, ``measures have already been implemented to reduce the crop at Northland's Massachusetts properties. Because of current inventory levels, the mandated crop reduction should have little impact on our marketing strategy or the anticipated sales volume of our branded products.''

Page 2

Home