Sysco Defines Plans at 2024 Investor Day to Improve Core Performance, Advance Recipe for Growth Strategy, Increase Shareholder Value

HOUSTON, May 22, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Sysco Corporation (NYSE:SYY), the world’s largest foodservice distributor, hosted its 2024 Investor Day at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to present an update on the company’s growth strategy and highlight initiatives that improve how the company serves its customers while delivering consistent financial performance.

Kevin Hourican, Sysco’s Chair of the Board and CEO, and other senior executives discussed how the company is driving core business performance through local case growth, and leveraging the scale of its merchandising and supply chain capabilities. In addition, Sysco shared the evolution of the company’s ‘Recipe for Growth’ strategy which initially launched three years ago to drive market growth through five pillars: Digital, Products and Solutions, Supply Chain, Customer Teams and Future Horizons.

"Today we outlined plans to improve core performance and advance our Recipe for Growth initiatives, helping fuel consistent growth as the leader in the large and growing food-away-from-home market,” said Hourican. “These plans include financial growth targets with significant top and bottom-line growth over the next three years to create sustainable long-term value for Sysco stakeholders. No one else can match the breadth and depth of our product range, nor our ability to meet customers' needs through our portfolio of specialty companies, our international market growth and our investments in salesforce and supply chain."

Sysco also provided a comprehensive financial outlook for the next three fiscal years based on the company’s new growth algorithm which focuses on delivering sustainable growth, operational excellence and balanced capital return, including:

• Sales growth of 4-6% per year through both organic and inorganic initiatives;
• Adjusted operating income growth of 6-8% per year which includes positive operating leverage;
• Adjusted earnings per share growth of 6-8% per year; and
• Total return to shareholders of 9-11% per year through a growing dividend.

“Sysco’s growth algorithm was built upon a balanced approach to capital allocation –maintaining our investment grade balance sheet and returning value to our shareholders all while investing in the business for the long-term,” said Kenny Cheung, Sysco executive vice president and chief financial officer. “These factors, combined with our actions to drive performance in the core of our business, will further position Sysco to deliver compelling financial results.”

Sysco also used its Investor Day to discuss how it plans to accelerate independent market share growth through Total Team Selling, which brings specialists and sales teams from Broadline and Specialty businesses together. “Our teams are collaborating, learning about each other’s capabilities and offering customer-focused solutions to win share,” said Hourican. He continued, “We’re also leveraging our global footprint to fuel local growth internationally. Our efforts include scaling merchandising strategies, including deeper penetration of Sysco Brand products, as well as customer-focused programs, like Sysco Your Way, which provide customers the flexibility they need to grow.”

The company also announced at the event the launch of Sysco Marketplace, a new offering that enables third-party suppliers to sell products on Sysco’s digital shopping platform, Shop, and ship products directly to Sysco customers.

“Through Marketplace, we’re able to streamline the shopping experience with a one-stop-shop solution that gives our customers access to over 15,000 niche products such as grocery, canned, and dry categories to help enhance their menus,” says Neil Russell, Sysco Chief Administrative Officer. “Marketplace complements our Broadline and Specialty offerings to fully serve our customers’ needs and enables us to support smaller suppliers so we can use our scale for good.”

Investor Day Webcast Replay

An on-demand replay of the event will be available at investors.sysco.com. An accompanying investor presentation is also available on the Events & Presentations page on the Sysco investor relations website.

To become a customer or to learn more about how Sysco can support the growth of your business, visit sysco.com.

Forward Looking Statements

Statements made in this news release that look forward in time or that express management’s beliefs, expectations or hopes are forward-looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements reflect the views of management at the time such statements are made and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, estimates, and assumptions that may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations. These statements include statements concerning: our expectations regarding future improvements in productivity; our belief that improvements in our organizational capabilities will deliver compelling outcomes in future periods; our expectations regarding improvements in international volume; our expectations that our transformational agenda will drive long-term growth; our expectations regarding the continuation of an inflationary environment; our expectations regarding improvements in the efficiency of our supply chain; our expectations regarding the impact of our Recipe for Growth strategy and the pace of progress in implementing the initiatives under that strategy; our expectations regarding Sysco’s ability to outperform the market in future periods; our expectations that our strategic priorities will enable us to grow faster than the market; our expectations regarding our efforts to reduce overtime rates and the incremental investments in hiring; our expectations regarding the expansion of our Sysco Driver Academy and our belief that the academy will enable us to provide upward career path mobility for our warehouse colleagues and improve colleague retention; our expectations regarding the benefits of the six-day delivery and last mile distribution models; our plans to improve the capabilities of our sales team; our plans to refine our engineering labor standards; our expectations regarding the impact of our growth initiatives and their ability to enable Sysco to consistently outperform the market; our expectations to exceed our growth target by the end of fiscal 2024; our ability to deliver against our strategic priorities; economic trends in the United States and abroad; our belief that there is further opportunity for profit in the future; our future growth, including growth in sales and earnings per share; the pace of implementation of our business transformation initiatives; our expectations regarding our balanced approach to capital allocation and rewarding our shareholders; our plans to improve colleague retention, training and productivity; our belief that our Recipe for Growth transformation is creating capabilities that will help us profitably grow for the long term; our expectations regarding our long-term financial outlook; our expectations of the effects labor harmony will have on sales and case volume, as well as mitigation expenses; our expectations for customer acquisition in the local/street space; our expectations regarding the effectiveness of our Global Support Center expense control measures; and our expectations regarding the growth and resilience of our food away from home market.

It is important to note that actual results could differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements based on numerous factors, including those outside of Sysco’s control. For more information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed or forecasted, see our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended July 1, 2023, as filed with the SEC, and our subsequent filings with the SEC. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable law.

About Sysco

Sysco is the global leader in selling, marketing and distributing food products to restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities, lodging establishments and other customers who prepare meals away from home. Its family of products also includes equipment and supplies for the foodservice and hospitality industries. With more than 74,000 colleagues, the company operates 334 distribution facilities worldwide and serves approximately 725,000 customer locations. For fiscal year 2023 that ended July 1, 2023, the company generated sales of more than $76 billion. Information about our Sustainability program, including Sysco’s 2023 Sustainability Report and 2023 Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Report, can be found at www.sysco.com.

For more information, visit www.sysco.com or connect with Sysco on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SyscoFoods. For important news and information regarding Sysco, visit the Investor Relations section of the company’s Internet home page at investors.sysco.com, which Sysco plans to use as a primary channel for publishing key information to its investors, some of which may contain material and previously non-public information. In addition, investors should continue to review our news releases and filings with the SEC. It is possible that the information we disclose through any of these channels of distribution could be deemed to be material information.

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