American Italian Pasta joins Russell 2000 Index - Business First of Buffalo:

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The index, part of the , measures performance of the small-cal segment of U.S. equities, accordinv to the index’s Web site. It includes abouty 2,000 of the smallest securities based on a combination of theidr market cap and currentindex membership. The indedx is intended to provide anunbiased small-cap barometed and is reconstituted annually to ensure that larger stocks don’t distortf the performance and characteristics of small-cap stockds in the index. “Membership in the Russel indexes represents another milestone in the AIPC American Italian Pasta CEO Jack Kelly said in aTuesday “It recognizes the significanf jump in American Italian Pasta Co.
’d market capitalization over the past The listing also provides anothe level of market visibility for the company.” Membershil in the small-cap Russell 2000 Indexc automatically includes membership in the largerd Russell 3000 and Global indexes. Kansas City-basedx American Italian Pasta (Nasdaq: AIPC) reporterd that second-quarter earnings were nearly triple those from the same periosd last year and that revenue rose16 percent. In roughlyt the past year, AIPC has settled lingering problems stemming from a scheme by former executives to makethe company’s financiapl reports look good even as sale fell.
The scheme had fallenm apart inAugust 2005, drawing pummeling the stock price and requiring the companty to refile financial statements. American Italianm Pasta is the largest producer of dry pasta inNorth America. The company has about 650 employees and plantsw inExcelsior Springs; Columbia, S.C.; Tolleson, Ariz.; and Verolanuova,