PLB American Italian Pasta

Jim Fogarty of A&M Appointed as Co-Chief Executive Officer KANSAS CITY, Mo., Sept. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- American Italian Pasta Company (NYSE:PLB) today announced that it has retained the management consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal (A&M). The Company also announced the appointment of Jim Fogarty of A&M as Co-Chief Executive Officer. The Company also provided an overview of the Company's current liquidity. Retention of Alvarez and Marsal: A&M will partner with the Company's leadership team to evaluate its strategic plan, implement various business initiatives and drive performance improvement. A focus of the A&M team will be to improve the performance of the Company's portfolio of pasta brands and to solidify and improve its position as a leader in providing food service, industrial and private label dry pasta products. The Company noted that Mr. Fogarty and A&M were retained based on their solid record of assisting in successful financial and operational performance improvement programs, including their substantial experience in consumer branded products. Mr. Fogarty joined A&M in 1994 and currently serves as a Managing Director. He has worked in a variety of management and advisory roles in several industries, most recently serving in a senior executive position with Levi Strauss & Co. and prior to that as a senior executive of the Warnaco Group. Overview of Company Liquidity: The Company also provided an overview of its current liquidity and debt position. As of September 28, 2005, total debt was $281.5 million, including $276.7 million under its bank credit agreement. Total debt, less cash, stood at $273.4 million. As of September 28, 2005, the company had liquidity resources totaling approximately $20.9 million, reflecting availability of approximately $12.8 million under its revolving credit agreement and cash of approximately $8.1 million. The Company also noted that amounts owed to its suppliers and vendors are currently within established credit terms. The Company continues to expect that net cash flow to be generated from operations, combined with liquidity resources, will be sufficient to meet its expected operating needs for the upcoming fiscal year. In addition, the Company's core operations continued to generate positive cash flow during the fourth fiscal quarter ending September 30, 2005, not withstanding incremental costs incurred of approximately $3.5 million relating to the audit committee investigation and related matters disclosed by the Company in August 2005. Founded in 1988 and based in Kansas City, Missouri, American Italian Pasta Company is the largest producer and marketer of dry pasta in North America. The Company has five plants that are located in Excelsior Springs, Missouri; Columbia, South Carolina; Tolleson, Arizona; Kenosha, Wisconsin and Verolanuova, Italy. The Company has approximately 600 employees located in the United States and Italy. Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) was founded in 1983 by Tony Alvarez II and Bryan Marsal, and is a global professional services firm providing specialized problem-solving, management and advisory services to companies in need of performance improvement in specific financial and operational areas. A&M is headquartered in New York City, with 600 people in 25 offices serving the United States, Europe, Latin America and Asia. (For more information about Alvarez & Marsal, visit http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/ or contact Rebecca Baker, 212-759-4433). The statements made above in "Overview of Company Liquidity" are forward- looking and based on current expectations. Actual future results or events could differ materially from those anticipated by such forward-looking statements. The differences could be caused by a number of factors, including, but not limited to, the completion and findings of the investigation being conducted by the Company's Audit Committee and the willingness of the Company's lenders to amend the terms of the credit agreement or provide refinancing of the Company's indebtedness. In addition, future operating results are impacted by a number of factors, including but not limited to, our dependence on a limited number of customers for a substantial portion of our revenue, our ability to obtain necessary raw materials and minimize fluctuations in raw material prices, the impact of the highly competitive environment in which we operate, our reliance exclusively on a single product category, our ability to attract and retain key personnel, and our ability to cost-effectively transport our products. For additional discussion of the principal factors that could cause actual results to be materially different, refer to our report on Form 10-K dated December 10, 2004 filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company will not update any forward-looking statements in this press release to reflect future events. DATASOURCE: American Italian Pasta Company CONTACT: George Shadid - EVP & Chief Financial Officer of American Italian Pasta Company, +1-816-584-5621, Web site: http://www.aipc.com/ http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/

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