HOUSTON, Aug. 12, 2013 - Sysco Corporation today announced an 8.5 percent decrease in its FY 2013 fourth quarter net profits compared to the same period a year ago.
Sysco, a large seller, marketer, and distributor of food products to restaurants, said its net earnings were $283 million, or 47 cents per share, for the fourth quarter compared to last year’s $309 million, or 55 cents per share.
The company said its fourth quarter sales were $11.6 billion for an increase of 5.0 percent from $11.0 billion last year. For all of FY 2013, sales were $44.4 billion, an increase of 4.8 percent from $42.4 billion in FY 2012.
“Fiscal year 2013 was a year of transition for Sysco where we made good progress on our multi-year business transformation initiatives,” said Bill DeLaney, Sysco’s president and chief executive officer. “With that said, our financial results announced this morning fell short of our expectations as weak restaurant traffic continued to challenge many of our customers.”
DeLaney said that while overall sales “grew acceptably” and “our cost per case metrics improved as the year progressed, we were unable to grow our gross profit at planned levels due in part to ongoing competitive pressures and a shift in customer mix.”
The company said food cost inflation was 2.0 percent, as measured by the estimated change in Sysco’s product costs, driven mainly by inflation in the dairy and poultry categories. In addition, sales from acquisitions, within the last 12 months, increased sales by 2.1 percent, and the impact of changes in foreign exchange rates for the fourth quarter decreased sales by 0.1 percent.
#30
For more news, go to www.agri-pulse.com