Chiquita CFO Riley Leaving

NEW YORK - Aug 6/04 - SNS -- James B. Riley, senior vice president and chief financial officer for Chiquita Brands International, Inc., will leave the company at the end of August.

During Riley’s tenure at Chiquita, the company reduced more than $700 million of debt and accrued interest and $60 million of annual interest expense through the bankruptcy process. Since March 2002, the company reduced debt further from more than $650 million to $372 million as of June 30, 2004, surpassing its $400 million total debt target two years ahead of plan.

Chiquita said the search for a new CFO has been underway since January, and the company is close to concluding the process. Aguirre noted that the Chiquita finance team has great depth of experience, but he asked Jim to stay on over the past several months, because he felt it was critical for him to follow through with several important projects.