Annie’s adds Ed Aaron to new IR role

Annie’s, a leading natural and organic food company, has named Ed Aaron as the company’s senior vice president of strategic planning and investor relations, filling a new role at the firm.

Before joining Annie’s on April 29, Aaron worked in equity research, spending more than 13 years at RBC Capital Markets in Denver – most recently as a managing director – and covering the natural foods market throughout his 15-year career. The business administration graduate and CFA charterholder will be based at the company’s Berkley headquarters in California and will report direct to Annie’s CFO Kelly Kennedy.

‘Ed has significant experience in the broad consumer products sector, including a deep understanding of the natural and organic industry,’ says John Foraker, the company’s CEO, in a press statement. ‘He is also widely known and respected in the investment community. His unique combination of skills and experience will help him lead our strategic planning processes and business development efforts, as well as expand and improve the company’s investor relations program.’

The NYSE-listed company was founded in 1989 and now supplies 25,000 stores in the US and Canada. It held its IPO in March last year at $19 per share, hitting a 52-week high of $48.87 in September last year. But a voluntary recall of its frozen pizzas in January pushed down the share price, which stands at $37.54 today. The recall, after pieces of a flexible metal mesh were found in flour and pizza dough, resulted in a $1.6 mn reduction in net sales, according to Annie’s third quarter fiscal 2013 report.

On March 13, Annie’s announced a secondary offering of 3.5 mn common shares by stockholders Solera Partners and SCI Partners, which together hold 38 percent of Annie’s shares. The offering was priced at $40 per share, and Annie’s said it would not receive any proceeds from the sale.