PROVIDENCE – United Natural Foods Inc. on Wednesday reported a loss of $66 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2024 that ended Oct. 29, or 67 cents per diluted share.
One year prior, the natural and organic food wholesale distributor reported a profit of $66 million, or $1.07 per diluted share.
United posted revenue of $7.55 billion in the quarter, which fell short of Wall Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research expected $7.56 billion. A year ago, the company reported a revenue of 7.53 billion.
“Our performance this quarter exceeded our expectations as we drove improved operational execution, which helped deliver savings from our near-term value creation initiatives earlier in the year than previously expected,” said Sandy Douglas, UNFI’s CEO. “These savings partially offset the anticipated decline in procurement gains resulting from lower levels of inflation. As we work to restore profitability in the near term, we also continue to make progress on our multiyear transformation agenda designed to enhance shareholder value by structurally improving our capabilities, efficiency and profitability while meaningfully enhancing the customer and supplier experience.”
Douglas took over as president of the company on Oct. 13, succeeding Christopher Testa. The move came after UNFI reported on Sept. 22 that its profit tumbled to $24 million in the fiscal year that ended July 29 – down from a $248 million profit a year earlier – including a fourth quarter in which the natural and organic food company lost $68 million.
On May 14, UNFI announced it was shedding 150 jobs and was consolidating its four operating regions into three, East, Central and West. The cutting of primarily management or supervisory positions was part of that restructuring.
In June 2022, UNFI launched its “Fuel the Future” initiative along with a new leadership structure. The strategy shift, UNFI said, will allow the grocery wholesaler to focus on four areas of the business with growth potential: services, wholesale, retail and corporate business.
As part of that “Fuel the Future” structure, Erin Horvath was named chief operating officer and Louis Martin was appointed president of wholesale, the company announced on March 22.
UNFI revenue channels for the fiscal first quarter:
- Sales to chains totaled $3.1 billion, a decline of 1.2% year over year.
- Sales to independent retailers totaled $1.9 billion, a 2.5% decrease year over year.
- Sales to “supernatural” stores, including Whole Foods Market IP Inc., totaled $1.5 billion, a rise of 1.1% year over year.
- Retail sales totaled $613 million, a decline of 1.8% year over year.
- Sales classified as “other” totaled $646 million, a rise of 1.7% year over year.
(Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.)
