SAN FRANCISCO, July 21, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Diamond Foods, Inc. (Nasdaq:DMND) today announced that each of its snack brands, Emerald, Pop Secret and Kettle, achieved record sales and market share milestones in the U.S. Grocery Channel for the period ending July 10th according to AC Nielsen.
In Snack Nuts, Emerald hit a record dollar share of 10.6%, growing nearly seven times faster than the category. This growth does not reflect recent distribution gains of nine new items in the mass merchandiser channel.
In Microwave Popcorn, Pop Secret achieved a 27.3% dollar share of the category, which is the highest share mark since Diamond took full control of the brand in February 2009. This strong performance does not include the addition of eight new microwave popcorn items that Diamond recently gained across the mass merchandiser channel. In addition, the new Pop Secret Jumbo Popping Kernels has been approved for distribution in two mass merchandisers.
In Potato Chips, the Kettle Brand recorded the highest sales dollar volume in its history and achieved new milestones in both the four and twelve week periods. Kettle Brand's twelve week sales in the U.S. Grocery Channel eclipsed $25 million dollars.
"We are extremely pleased with the performance of our snack portfolio, and our new distribution in the mass merchandiser channel will be critical to help enable our future growth," said Michael J. Mendes, Chairman, President and CEO of Diamond Foods. "We believe that we are now beginning to realize the benefits of both our scale and the investments we have made in building our brands."
About Diamond Foods
Diamond Foods is a high-growth innovative packaged food company focused on building, acquiring and energizing brands including Kettle® Chips, Emerald® snack nuts, Pop Secret® popcorn, and Diamond of California® culinary and snack nuts. The Company's products are distributed in a wide range of stores where snacks and culinary nuts are sold.
Corporate Web Site: www.diamondfoods.com
Consumer Web Sites: www.kettlefoods.com, www.kettlefoods.co.uk, www.emeraldnuts.com, www.popsecret.com, www.diamondnuts.com
The Diamond Foods, Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=6112
Note regarding forward-looking statements: This release contains forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements necessarily depend on assumptions may be incorrect and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from projections made in this release. Some factors that could cause actual results to differ from our expectations include risks loss of key customers and an increase in competition. A more extensive list of factors that could materially affect our results can be found in Diamond's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. They are available publicly and on request from Diamond's Investor Relations Department.