PROVIDENCE – United Natural Foods Inc. says it earned a $66 million profit in the quarter that ended Oct. 29, or $1.07 per diluted share.
One year prior, the Providence-based natural and organic food wholesale distributor reported a profit of $76 million, or $1.25 per diluted share.
The latest results, announced Wednesday, missed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.14 per share.
United Natural Foods posted revenue of $7.53 billion in the quarter – which is considered the company’s first quarter, according to its fiscal calendar – also falling short of Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $7.54 billion.
Quarterly sales totaled $7.5 billion, an increase from $6.9 billion one year prior.
“Our performance this quarter reflects continued execution of our strategy in a dynamic operating environment as we improved fill rates and operating performance and saw more customers buying more categories from us than ever before,” said UNFI CEO Sandy Douglas. “We are leveraging our scale, diversification and capabilities to enhance connectivity between customers and suppliers, finding unique ways to create more value for both. We continued to invest in people and technology as part of our commitment to becoming a more effective, more efficient and more disciplined business, well-positioned to capture a growing share of our $140 billion core addressable market and create even more value for shareholders.”
United Natural Foods expects full-year earnings in the range of $4.85 to $5.15 per share, with revenue in the range of $29.8 billion to $30.4 billion.
UNFI revenue channels for the fiscal first quarter:
- The company’s sales to chains totaled $3.2 billion, a rise of 4.6% year over year
- Sales to independent retailers totaled $1.9 billion, an 11.3% increase year over year
- Sales to “supernatural” stores, including Whole Foods Market IP Inc., totaled $1.5 billion, a rise of 9.8% year over year
- Retail sales totaled $613 million, a rise of 1.8% year over year
- Sales classified as “other” totaled $635 million, a rise of 9.5% year over year
Material from The Associated Press was used in this report
