US-HERSHEY-FACTORY

(FILES) File photo dated 13 September, 2002 shows the Hershey Foods Corp. facility on Chocolate Avenue in Hershey, PA. The charitable trust that controls Hershey Foods Corporation, the top North American chocolate maker, announced early 18 September, 2002 it had decided to halt the sale of the company in what is seen as a victory for disadvantaged children. Hershey Foods said in statement it had been informed by the Hershey Trust Company that its board of directors had voted "to instruct the company to terminate the sale process that the company initiated at the direction of the trust." The Hershey Trust Company is the trustee for the Milton Hershey School for orphans and disadvantaged children and owns 31 percent of the company and 77 percent of its voting shares. The trust put its controlling interest up for sale in July. Hershey dominates the US chocolate market, with about a 43 percent share and has some 14,000 employees; worldwide sales in 2001 were 4.5 billion USD. AFP PHOTO TOM MIHALEK (Photo by TOM MIHALEK / AFP) (Photo by TOM MIHALEK/AFP via Getty Images)