• Sales and Earnings Turn Positive in Fourth Quarter
  

• Earnings and Cash Flow Exceed High End of Target Ranges
  
• New Products, Cost Containment & Stabilizing Home Products Market Enhance Performance in Challenging Economy

Deerfield, Illinois, January 29, 2010 - Fortune Brands, Inc. (NYSE: FO), the company behind leading consumer brands including Jim Beam, Titleist and Moen, today reported results for the fourth quarter and full-year 2009.  Reflecting higher sales of spirits and golf products and stabilizing market conditions for home products, the company reported its first quarterly sales increase in the past eight quarters.  Net sales were up 1% for the quarter and were down 12% for the full year.

Reported fourth quarter earnings were $0.08 per diluted share, an improvement of $1.96 versus the year-ago quarter due to lower charges in the current period. Reported full-year earnings for 2009 were $1.60 per diluted share, up from $1.03 for continuing operations in 2008.

On a before charges/gains basis, diluted EPS increased 3% to $0.66 for the fourth quarter and was $2.43 for the full year. These results exceeded the company's most recent target for diluted EPS before charges/gains to be in the range of $2.10-2.30 for 2009.

"Fortune Brands is emerging from the recession in a strong position, and we closed 2009 with our best quarter of the year," said Bruce Carbonari, chairman and chief executive officer of Fortune Brands. "Total sales turned positive in the quarter, each of our businesses performed above our fourth-quarter profit expectations, and we delivered results above the top end of our full-year target ranges for EPS and free cash flow. While consumers remain cautious, particularly when it comes to big-ticket discretionary purchases, we've continued to see stabilization in the home products market. We're on offense in all of our businesses with a focus on outperforming our categories, investing to grow profitable market share and leveraging our lower cost structures. Notably, these initiatives helped our home and security business deliver operating income growth in the quarter.

"Our foundation of enduring and trusted brands, combined with our brand-building and new-product initiatives, continued to benefit us in the fourth quarter," Carbonari said. "Despite challenges in select international markets, total spirits sales were higher in the quarter on gains for Jim Beam and Maker's Mark in the U.S., and the benefit of the weaker U.S. dollar. Our home and security business delivered its best performance in eight quarters, led by a high-single-digit sales increase for Moen and a strong double-digit gain for Simonton Windows. While our golf business faced low operating leverage in its seasonally smallest quarter, double-digit sales increases for Titleist golf balls and FootJoy shoes, along with strong growth in Asia, helped our golf brands outperform the market. Each of our businesses also demonstrated impressive management of cash and working capital. Cash management, which included a full-year reduction of approximately $250 million in working capital, helped Fortune Brands generate $572 million of free cash in 2009."

For the fourth quarter:

• Net income was $11.5 million ($0.08 per diluted share) versus a loss of $281.3 million ($1.88 per diluted share) in the year-ago quarter.
  

o Comparisons were favorably impacted by lower net charges versus the year-ago period. In the current-year period, the company recorded a net charge of $0.58 per share, reflecting non-cash write-downs of $66.8 million after tax (principally related to more moderate industry expectations for future growth of the tequila category), and restructuring and restructuring-related charges of $21.9 million after tax.

• Excluding charges and gains in both the current and prior-year periods, diluted EPS was $0.66, up 3% from $0.64 in the year-ago quarter.
  
• Net sales were $1.80 billion, up 1%.
  
oForeign exchange benefited net sales by 3%.

oComparable net sales by business unit were: spirits down 4%; home & security down 4%; golf up 2%. Comparable net sales exclude excise taxes, foreign exchange, acquisitions/divestitures, and the impact of required accounting related to spirits route-to-market initiatives.

• Operating income was $47.3 million.
  
oOperating income before charges was $181.7 million.

For the full year 2009:

• Net income from continuing operations was $242.8 million, or $1.60 per diluted share, up from $1.03 in 2008.
  

• Diluted EPS before charges/gains was $2.43, down 35% from $3.75 in 2008.
  
• Net sales were $6.69 billion, down 12%.
  
• Operating income was $505.2 million.
  
o Operating income before charges was $718.9 million.

• Free cash flow was $572 million after dividends and net capital expenditures.
  
• Return on equity before charges/gains was 7%.
  
• Return on invested capital before charges/gains was 5%.

"Fortune Brands enters 2010 with strong brands, efficient cost structures and teams built to win," Carbonari continued. "Our goals in the year ahead are to return to growth in earnings per share before charges/gains, outperform our markets in growth and returns, and generate strong free cash flow. We've been proactive in the marketplace and on the cost side throughout the downturn, and we see the front end of a recovery as an excellent time to invest to fuel further momentum and gain long-term competitive advantage across our businesses. We intend to boost brand-building investment in 2010, with the level dependent on the extent of consumer recovery and our earnings growth as the year unfolds.

"While we are encouraged by the macroeconomic improvement in the fourth quarter, we believe consumers will remain cautious while employment, credit markets, home values and consumer confidence continue to mend. Accordingly, we're currently targeting to deliver diluted EPS before charges/gains for 2010 in the range of $2.30 to $2.80. We begin 2010 with an assumption that the markets for each of our three brand groups will be flat to up at a low-single-digit rate. We also expect that higher costs for energy and raw materials will likely offset the expected benefits of foreign exchange," said Carbonari.

"Looking at the first quarter, earnings could be lower year over year, reflecting the impact of substantially higher brand investment in spirits versus the low level in the first quarter of 2009, as well as the final quarter of incremental costs associated with our international route-to-market transition.

"Over the longer term, we're strongly positioned to accelerate growth as we benefit from our attractive consumer categories, powerful brand positions, flexible supply chains and the leverage of our lower cost base as consumer demand builds," Carbonari concluded.

The company also announced that it is targeting to deliver free cash flow (cash flow from operations less net capital expenditures) in the range of $375-475 million in 2010, which would represent an earnings-to-free-cash-flow conversion rate of more than 100%. Using the company's prior free cash flow measure that was after both dividends and net capital expenditures, the company's target would be in the range of $260-360 million at the current dividend rate.

About Fortune Brands

Fortune Brands, Inc. is a leading consumer brands company. Its operating companies have premier brands and leading market positions in distilled spirits, home and security, and golf products. Beam Global Spirits & Wine, Inc. is the company's premium spirits business. Major spirits brands include Jim Beam and Maker's Mark bourbon, Sauza tequila, Canadian Club whisky, Courvoisier cognac, Cruzan rum, Teacher's and Laphroaig Scotch, EFFEN vodka and DeKuyper cordials. The brands of Fortune Brands Home & Security LLC include Moen faucets, Aristokraft, Omega, Diamond and Kitchen Craft cabinetry, Therma-Tru door systems, Simonton windows, Master Lock security products and Waterloo storage and organization products. Acushnet Company's golf
brands include Titleist, Cobra and FootJoy. Fortune Brands, headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois, is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol FO and is included in the S&P 500 Index and the MSCI World Index.

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Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains statements relating to future results, which are forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Readers are cautioned that these forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and the company does not assume any obligation to update, amend or clarify them to reflect events, new information or circumstances occurring after the date of this release. Actual results may differ materially from those projected as a result of certain risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to: general economic conditions, including the U.S. housing and remodeling market; competitive market pressures (including pricing pressures); customer defaults and related bad debt expense; consolidation of trade customers; successful development of new products and processes; ability to secure and maintain rights to intellectual property; risks pertaining to strategic acquisitions and joint ventures, including the potential financial effects and performance of such acquisitions or joint ventures, and integration of acquisitions and the related confirmation or remediation of internal controls over financial reporting; changes related to the company's spirits business organization, including its U.S. and international distribution structure; ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; weather; risks associated with doing business outside the United States, including currency exchange rate risks; commodity and energy price volatility; costs of certain employee and retiree benefits and returns on pension assets; dependence on performance of distributors and other marketing arrangements; the impact of excise tax increases on distilled spirits; changes in golf equipment regulatory standards and other regulatory developments; potential liabilities, costs and uncertainties of litigation; impairment in the carrying value of goodwill or other acquired intangibles; historical consolidated financial statements that may not be indicative of future conditions and results; interest rate fluctuations; volatility of financial and credit markets, which could affect access to capital for the company, its customers and consumers; any possible downgrades of the company's credit ratings; as well as other risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information

This press release includes measures not derived in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"), such as diluted earnings per share before charges/gains, operating income before charges/gains, comparable net sales, return on equity before charges/gains, return on invested capital before charges/gains, and free cash flow. These measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for any measure derived in accordance with GAAP, and may also be inconsistent with similar measures presented by other companies. Reconciliation of these measures to the most closely comparable GAAP measures, and reasons for the company's use of these measures, are presented in the attached pages.