The Whitewave Foods Company Earns National Honors For Industry-Leading Growth

BROOMFIELD, COLO. – The WhiteWave Foods Company (NYSE: WWAV), the company that makes Silk®, Horizon Organic®, International Delight®, and LAND O LAKES®*, today announced that it has ranked amongst the top performing consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies in the U.S. in a new study issued by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Information Resources, Inc. (IRI). Additionally, IRI has named International Delight Iced Coffee® one of the most successful food and beverage CPG brands of 2012 in its 2012 New Product Pacesetters report, an industry-recognized benchmark analysis of exceptional CPG sales success for newly launched products.

WhiteWave Foods Named Top Performing CPG Company

WhiteWave Foods was named by BCG and IRI as a 2012 top performing CPG company following an analysis of the performance of more than 400 CPG manufacturers with annual U.S. revenues of at least $100 million. Among midsize companies ($1 billion to $5 billion in retail sales), WhiteWave ranked sixth. Other top performing companies in the midsize category include Green Mountain and Starbucks.

The new study is the first to compare both public and private CPG companies using a combination of three metrics—dollar sales growth, volume sales growth and market share gains—based on comprehensive retail- and consumer-market tracking data.

“We are extremely proud of this external recognition and have plans to build on this track record of success,” said Gregg Engles, Chairman and CEO of WhiteWave Foods. “Our recent growth has been driven by our leading brands, which continue to resonate with consumers’ interest in natural, nutritious, and great tasting products that are responsibly produced.  We are pleased to be ranked among other top performing companies in the midsize category.”

International Delight Receives IRI Pacesetter Award

The 2012 IRI Pacesetter Award recognized International Delight’s Iced Coffee line as ranking among the most successful new product launches in the country. Nearly 1,900 new CPG brands were introduced to retail shelves in the U.S. between 2011 and 2012, and only 11 percent of these launches met the stringent IRI standards of exceptional first-year sales success required to achieve 2012 New Product Pacesetter status. Ranking number 12 among food and beverage brands, International Delight shares this honor with some of the world’s most recognized brand names, including Nature Valley and Breyers.

International Delight Iced Coffee was launched in March 2012 to provide iced coffee drinkers coffeehouse-quality iced coffee at home. The line was the first of its kind to combine coffee, real milk and cream in a ready-to-serve half-gallon container. International Delight Iced Coffee is available in three popular coffeehouse flavors – Mocha, Vanilla and Original.

“We’re proud of the International Delight brand and all the hard work at WhiteWave Foods that went into the development and launch of this quality product that fills a real consumer need,” said Blaine McPeak, President of WhiteWave Foods. “We’re honored to be ranked so high on the 2012 IRI Pacesetter list and we continue to research new product innovations that will delight consumers and rank among the best new products in the country.”

Earlier this year, International Delight Light Iced Coffee® was launched to give consumers more options in the iced coffee category. Available in Mocha and Vanilla flavors, International Delight Light Iced Coffee offers an authentic, coffeehouse taste with one third fewer calories and only 100 calories per serving.

About IRI New Product Pacesetters Report

The IRI Times & Trends Report, “2012 New Product Pacesetters,” is available exclusively from IRI, the leader in delivering powerful market and shopper information, predictive analysis and the foresight that leads to action. The findings of this report were compiled based on insights from IRI InfoScan® Reviews, New Product Profiler™ and the 2012 IRI New Products Survey. To download the full report or listen to the New Product Pacesetters webinar replay, visit: http://www.iriworldwide.com/Insights/Publications/NewProductPacesetters.aspx

About WhiteWave Foods

The WhiteWave Foods Company is a leading consumer packaged food and beverage company that manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells branded Plant-based Foods and Beverages, Coffee Creamers and Beverages, and Premium Dairy products throughout North America and Europe. The Company is focused on providing consumers with innovative, great-tasting food and beverage choices that meet their increasing desires for nutritious, flavorful, convenient, and responsibly produced products. The Company’s widely-recognized, leading brands distributed in North America include Silk® Plant-based Foods and Beverages, InternationalDelight® and LAND O LAKES® Coffee Creamers and Beverages, Horizon®  Organic Premium Dairy products, and TruMoo® single serve milk boxes. Its popular European brands of Plant-based Foods and Beverages include Alpro® and Provamel®.

*The LAND O LAKES brand is owned by Land O’Lakes, Inc. and is used by license.

*The TruMoo brand is owned by Dean Foods Company and is used by license.

Source: WhiteWave Foods