Bemis Company Declares Regular Quarterly Dividend and Adopts Rule 10b5-1 Stock Purchase Plan.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Bemis Company, Inc. (NYSE:BMS) announced today that its Board of Directors has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of 18 cents per share. The dividend is payable on September 1, 2005, to shareholders of record at the close of business on August 19, 2005.

Bemis also announced the adoption of a plan under Rule 10b5-1 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to facilitate the repurchase of its shares of common stock in order to offset the dilutive effect of the Company's stock used in annual incentive plans. Rule 10b5-1 allows a company to purchase its shares at times when it would not be in the market because of self-imposed trading blackout periods, such as the time immediately preceding its quarterly earnings releases. While this plan is expected to repurchase about 600,000 shares in 2005, management may discontinue purchases at any time. In addition to share repurchases by the Rule 10b5-1 plan, Bemis expects to continue to be opportunistic about share repurchases in the open market from time to time during its normal open trading windows. Bemis has an existing authorization from the Board of Directors to repurchase shares. Under this authorization, in effect since 2000, Bemis has the ability to repurchase 4.5 million shares.

Bemis Company is a major supplier of flexible packaging and pressure sensitive materials used by leading food, consumer products, manufacturing, and other companies worldwide. Founded in 1858, the Company reported 2004 sales of $2.8 billion, of which $2.2 billion was from the flexible packaging business segment and $0.6 billion was from the pressure sensitive materials business segment. Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Bemis employs about 15,500 individuals in 62 manufacturing facilities in 11 countries around the world. More information about the company is available at our website, www.bemis.com.

Statements in this release that are not historical, including statements relating to the expected share repurchases, are considered "forward-looking" and are presented pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such content is subject to certain risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual future results and trends to differ materially from historical results or those projected in any such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ from those expected include, but are not limited to, unexpected changes in financial market conditions, the market price of Bemis's common stock, and changes in governmental and securities regulations. Additional risk factors are detailed in the Company's regular SEC filings including the most recently filed Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004.