Alberto-Culver Company Appoints Ralph Nicoletti CFO

MELROSE PARK, Ill., March 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Alberto-Culver Company has appointed Ralph J. Nicoletti, 49, as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. The announcement was made by V. James Marino, President and Chief Executive Officer.

Mr. Nicoletti comes to Alberto-Culver from a 27-year career at Kraft Foods where he was most recently Senior Vice President of Corporate Audit. Prior to that, he had served as Senior Vice President, Finance for Kraft Foods North America.

In commenting on the appointment, Mr. Marino said, "Filling this position is an important part of our restructuring as a focused consumer products company. As we continue to develop and implement our growth plans for the new company, we expect Ralph to be a significant contributor."

Mr. Nicoletti holds a bachelor's degree and an MBA from Pace University. He is a resident of Lake Zurich, Illinois.

Alberto-Culver Company manufactures, distributes and markets leading personal care products including Alberto VO5, St. Ives, TRESemme and Nexxus in the United States and internationally. Several of its household/grocery products such as Mrs. Dash and Static Guard are niche category leaders in the U.S. It is also the second largest producer in the world of products for the ethnic hair care market with leading brands including Motions and Soft & Beautiful. Its Cederroth International unit is a major consumer goods marketer in the Nordic countries.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of Alberto-Culver's management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements: risks inherent in acquisitions, divestitures and strategic alliances; the pattern of brand sales; competition within the relevant product markets; loss of one or more key employees; the effects of a prolonged United States or global economic downturn or recession; changes in costs; the costs and effects of unanticipated legal or administrative proceedings; the risk that expected cost savings related to the reorganization and restructuring may not be realized; health epidemics; adverse weather conditions; loss of distributorship rights; sales by unauthorized distributors in Alberto-Culver's exclusive markets; and variations in political, economic or other factors such as currency exchange rates, inflation rates, interest rates, tax changes, legal and regulatory changes or other external factors over which Alberto-Culver has no control. In addition, the following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements with respect to the benefits of the transaction involving Alberto-Culver and CDRS Acquisition LLC, which separated Alberto-Culver's consumer products business and its Sally/BSG beauty supply distribution business: the risk that the businesses will not be separated cost effectively; disruption from the transaction making it more difficult to maintain relationships with clients, employees or suppliers; and events that negatively affect the intended tax free nature of the portion of the transaction related to the distribution of shares of a new company formed to hold the consumer products business of Alberto-Culver. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release, and there is no undertaking to update or revise them as more information becomes available. Additional factors that could cause Alberto-Culver's results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in the Company's 2006 Annual Report on Form 10-K and the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed by Alberto-Culver on February 9, 2007, in each case on file with the SEC and available at the SEC's internet site ( http://www.sec.gov/ ).