TreeHouse Foods Inc., maker of Lofthouse cookies and other instore bakery goods, reported lower sales and earnings per share in the third quarter of 2017.

Net sales for Oak Brook, Illinois-based TreeHouse fell 2.4 percent in the quarter compared to the same period the year before. The company also reported earnings per fully diluted share of $.50, down from $.65 in the third quarter of 2016.

As a result, TreeHouse lowered its full year guidance and issued fourth quarter earnings per share guidance of $.91-1.01. The company also will repurchase $400 million, or 10 percent, of outstanding company share.

"We are disappointed that third quarter results came in below our expectations,” says Sam Reed, TreeHouse’s chairman and CEO. “Aggregate sales were relatively flat excluding the soup divestiture, and operations struggled as we faced further unanticipated volume pressure, increased manufacturing complexity, and retail bid pricing compression in several segments.”