Hershey Foods wants to be renamed

25/02/05 Hershey Foods Corp., the US's largest candy maker, wants to change its name to The Hershey Co., and double its available shares to help finance future, unspecified enterprises as part of a larger corporate makeover.

The company, which makes such brands as Reese's, Almond Joy, Mounds and KitKat, said in regulatory filing it also was considering revising the Hershey logo. It said the moves would require shareholder approval.

The Hershey Trust Co., the company's largest shareholder, would continue to hold the controlling stake in the company. Hershey Foods currently has about 250 million shares outstanding.

The new name would be the company's fourth since Milton Hershey founded it as the Hershey Chocolate Co. in 1894. The present name dates back to 1968.

Hershey Foods has owned coffee, pasta and frozen-foods businesses and the Friendly's restaurant chain, but in recent years has sold off those assets and concentrated on expanding its chocolate lines and snacks like low-carb bars and cookies. Last year, it purchased smaller companies to bolster its core business, including the Mexico-based maker of spicy candies, Grupo Lorena, and Hawaii's largest macadamia nut processor, Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Corp.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05055/461952.stm