DIT AMCON Distributing Co

AMCON Distributing Company (AMEX:DIT), an Omaha, NE based consumer products company, announced today that William R. Hoppner has been elected President of The Healthy Edge, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of AMCON Distributing Company. Mr. Hoppner currently serves as Senior Vice President of AMCON Distributing Company and has been an AMCON Director since 1994. He was formerly engaged in the private practice of law, for 10 years was Executive Vice-President of International Transportation Specialists, Inc., an Omaha transportation firm and spent many years in public service as Chief of Staff for J.J. Exon and then for Bob Kerry during their terms as governor of Nebraska and later in the U.S. Senate. AMCON also announced that it plans to place all of the common stock of Hawaiian Natural Water Company, Inc., currently a direct wholly-owned subsidiary, and all of the common stock of Trinity Springs, Inc., currently 85% owned directly by AMCON, under The Healthy Edge. Chamberlin's Natural Foods, Inc., and Health Food Associates, Inc. (d/b/a Akin's Natural Foods Market) will continue as wholly-owned subsidiaries of The Healthy Edge. William F. Wright, Chairman of the Board of both AMCON and The Healthy Edge, stated that "We are extremely pleased to place Bill Hoppner in charge of our retail health food stores and continuing beverages operations. In the future, we expect further announcements to follow as to other officers of The Healthy Edge and as to its Board of Directors." Wright also noted that "We are presently studying the feasibility of The Healthy Edge remaining as a subsidiary of AMCON or whether The Healthy Edge should be spun-off to our shareholders and achieve its own identity, as a separate publicly held company. We expect that decision to be made by our Board of Directors in the next month or two." If the decision is made to proceed with the spin-off, The Healthy Edge would be a reporting company and an Information Statement would be distributed to AMCON stockholders in connection with the spin-off. It is not expected that the spin-off would require any vote of AMCON's stockholders. There can be no assurance that the spin-off will take place. AMCON is a leading wholesale distributor of consumer products including beverages, candy, tobacco, groceries, food service, frozen and chilled foods, and health and beauty care products with distribution centers in Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. Chamberlin's Natural Foods, Inc. and Health Food Associates, Inc., both wholly-owned subsidiaries of The Healthy Edge, Inc., operate health and natural product retail stores in central Florida (6), Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma (4). The retail stores operate under the names Chamberlin's Market & Cafe and Akin's Natural Foods Market. Hawaiian Natural Water Company, Inc. produces and sells natural spring water under the Hawaiian Springs label in Hawaii and other foreign markets and purified bottled water on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. The natural spring water is bottled at the source on the Big Island of Hawaii. Trinity Springs, Inc., which was acquired in June 2004, produces and sells geothermal bottled water and a natural mineral supplement under the Trinity label and recently introduced a vitamin enhanced beverage product under the Trinity Enhanced label. The water and mineral supplement are both bottled at the base of the Trinity Mountains in Paradise, Idaho, one of the world's deepest known sources. Trinity Springs also distributes Hawaiian Springs on the U.S. mainland. This news release contains forward looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties and which reflect management's current beliefs and estimates of future economic circumstances, industry conditions, Company performance and financial results. A number of factors could affect the future results of the Company and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the Company's forward looking statements. Moreover, past financial performance should not be considered a reliable indicator of future performance. Accordingly, the Company claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 with respect to all such forward-looking statements. Visit AMCON Distributing Company's web site at: www.amcon.com