UniFirst Announces Financial Results for the First Quarter of Fiscal 2024

WILMINGTON, Mass., Jan. 03, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- UniFirst Corporation (NYSE: UNF) (the “Company,” “UniFirst” or “we”) today reported results for its first quarter ended November 25, 2023 as compared to the corresponding period in the prior fiscal year:

Q1 2024 Financial Highlights

  • Consolidated revenues for the first quarter increased 9.5% to $593.5 million.
  • Operating income was $53.1 million, an increase of 22.4%.
  • The quarterly tax rate decreased to 23.4% compared to 25.2% in the prior year.
  • Net income increased to $42.3 million from $34.0 million in the prior year, or 24.6%.
  • Diluted earnings per share increased to $2.26 from $1.81 in the prior year, or 24.9%.
  • EBITDA increased to $86.2 million compared to $69.7 million in the prior year, or 23.7%.

The Company's financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2024 and 2023 included approximately $2.9 million and $10.0 million, respectively, of costs directly attributable to its customer relationship management (“CRM”) computer system, enterprise resource planning (“ERP”) system and branding initiatives (the "Key Initiatives"). Investments in the branding initiatives concluded in fiscal 2023. The effect of the Key Initiatives on the first quarter of fiscal 2024 and 2023 combined to decrease:

  • Both operating income and EBITDA by $2.9 million and $10.0 million, respectively.
  • Net income by $2.4 million and $7.6 million, respectively.
  • Diluted earnings per share by $0.12 and $0.40, respectively.

Steven Sintros, UniFirst President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “We are pleased with the results from our first quarter, which represent a solid start to our new fiscal year. I want to sincerely thank all of our Team Partners who continue to Always Deliver for each other and our customers as we strive towards our vision of being universally recognized as the best service provider in the industry. …all while living our Mission of Serving the People Who do the Hard Work.”

Segment Reporting Highlights

Core Laundry Operations

  • Revenues for the quarter increased 9.8% to $524.0 million.
  • Organic growth, which excludes the effect of acquisitions and fluctuations in the Canadian dollar, was 5.2%.
  • Operating margin increased to 8.0% from 7.1%.
  • Core Laundry Operations' EBITDA margin increased to 14.0% from 12.2%.

The costs incurred related to the Key Initiatives, discussed above, were recorded to the Core Laundry Operations' segment, and decreased both the Core Laundry Operations' operating and EBITDA margin for the first quarters of fiscal 2024 and 2023 by 0.6% and 2.1%, respectively.

The segment's operating and EBITDA margin comparisons were also impacted by investments in our corporate capabilities that we have made over the last year and higher merchandise costs, which were partially offset by lower energy costs as a percentage of revenues. The purchase accounting for the Company's March 2023 acquisition of Clean Uniform further impacted the segment’s operating margin, most notably in the form of elevated non-cash acquisition-related intangibles amortization.

Specialty Garments

  • Revenues for the quarter were $44.7 million, an increase of 1.3%, which was driven by growth in the segment's cleanroom operations.
  • Operating margin increased to 27.1% from 23.1% a year ago, primarily as a result of the strong top line performance.
  • Specialty Garments consists of nuclear decontamination and cleanroom operations, and its results can vary significantly due to seasonality and the timing of reactor outages and projects.

Balance Sheet and Capital Allocation

  • Cash, cash equivalents and Short-term investments totaled $88.8 million as of November 25, 2023.
  • The Company had no long-term debt outstanding as of November 25, 2023.
  • On October 24, 2023, our Board of Directors authorized a new share repurchase program to repurchase from time to time up to $100.0 million of our outstanding shares of Common Stock, inclusive of the amount which remained available under the share repurchase program previously authorized on October 18, 2021. Under the new share repurchase program, the Company repurchased 1,500 shares of Common Stock for $0.3 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2024. As of November 25, 2023, the Company had $99.7 million remaining under its new share repurchase program.
  • Weighted average shares outstanding – Diluted for both the first quarter of fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2023 were 18.8 million.

Financial Outlook

Mr. Sintros continued, "At this time, we continue to expect our revenues for fiscal 2024 to be between $2.415 billion and $2.435 billion, however, due to recent trends in our Core Laundry Operations in the latter half of the quarter we anticipate that the lower half of the range is more likely. We continue to expect diluted earnings per share to be between $6.52 and $7.16.” As a reminder, our guidance for fiscal 2024 includes one extra week of operations compared to fiscal 2023 due to the timing of our fiscal calendar.

Conference Call Information

UniFirst Corporation will hold a conference call today at 9:00 a.m. (ET) to discuss its quarterly financial results, business highlights and outlook. A simultaneous live webcast of the call will be available over the Internet and can be accessed at www.unifirst.com.

About UniFirst Corporation

Headquartered in Wilmington, Mass., UniFirst Corporation (NYSE: UNF) is a North American leader in the supply and servicing of uniform and workwear programs, facility service products, as well as first aid and safety supplies and services. Together with its subsidiaries, the Company also manages specialized garment programs for the cleanroom and nuclear industries. In addition to partnering with leading brands, UniFirst manufactures its own branded workwear, protective clothing, and floorcare products at its five company-owned ISO-9001-certified manufacturing facilities. With more than 270 service locations, over 300,000 customer locations, and 16,000-plus employee Team Partners, the Company outfits more than 2 million workers every day. For more information, contact UniFirst at 888.296.2740 or visit UniFirst.com.

Forward-Looking Statements Disclosure

This public announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws that reflect the Company's current views with respect to future events and financial performance, including projected revenues, operating margin and earnings per share. Forward-looking statements contained in this public announcement are subject to the safe harbor created by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and may be identified by words such as “guidance,” “outlook,” “estimates,” “anticipates,” “projects,” “plans,” “expects,” “intends,” “believes,” “seeks,” “could,” “should,” “may,” “will,” “strategy,” “objective,” “assume,” “strive,” “design,” “assumption,” “vision” or the negative versions thereof, and similar expressions and by the context in which they are used. Such forward-looking statements are based upon our current expectations and speak only as of the date made. Such statements are highly dependent upon a variety of risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to, uncertainties caused by an economic recession or other adverse economic conditions, including, without limitation, as a result of continued high inflation rates or further increases in inflation or interest rates or extraordinary events or circumstances such as geopolitical conflicts like the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, disruption in the Middle East or the COVID-19 pandemic, and their impact on our customers' businesses and workforce levels, disruptions of our business and operations, including limitations on, or closures of, our facilities, or the business and operations of our customers or suppliers in connection with extraordinary events or circumstances such as the COVID-19 pandemic, uncertainties regarding our ability to consummate acquisitions and successfully integrate acquired businesses, including Clean Uniform, and the performance of such businesses, uncertainties regarding any existing or newly-discovered expenses and liabilities related to environmental compliance and remediation, any adverse outcome of pending or future contingencies or claims, our ability to compete successfully without any significant degradation in our margin rates, seasonal and quarterly fluctuations in business levels, our ability to preserve positive labor relationships and avoid becoming the target of corporate labor unionization campaigns that could disrupt our business, the effect of currency fluctuations on our results of operations and financial condition, our dependence on third parties to supply us with raw materials, which such supply could be severely disrupted as a result of extraordinary events or circumstances such as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, any loss of key management or other personnel, increased costs as a result of any changes in federal, state, international or other laws, rules and regulations or governmental interpretation of such laws, rules and regulations, uncertainties regarding, or adverse impacts from continued high price levels of natural gas, electricity, fuel and labor or increases in such costs, the negative effect on our business from sharply depressed oil and natural gas prices, the continuing increase in domestic healthcare costs, increased workers' compensation claim costs, increased healthcare claim costs, our ability to retain and grow our customer base, demand and prices for our products and services, fluctuations in our Specialty Garments business, political or other instability, supply chain disruption or infection among our employees in Mexico and Nicaragua where our principal garment manufacturing plants are located, our ability to properly and efficiently design, construct, implement and operate a new customer relationship management computer system, interruptions or failures of our information technology systems, including as a result of cyber-attacks, additional professional and internal costs necessary for compliance with any changes in or additional Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), New York Stock Exchange and accounting or other rules, including, without limitation, recent rules proposed by the SEC regarding climate-related and cybersecurity-related disclosures, strikes and unemployment levels, our efforts to evaluate and potentially reduce internal costs, economic and other developments associated with the war on terrorism and its impact on the economy, the impact of foreign trade policies and tariffs or other impositions on imported goods on our business, results of operations and financial condition, general economic conditions, our ability to successfully implement our business strategies and processes, including our capital allocation strategies, our ability to successfully remediate the material weakness in internal control over financial reporting disclosed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended August 26, 2023 and the other factors described under Part I, Item 1A. “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended August 26, 2023, Part II, Item 1A. “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in our subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and in our other filings with the SEC. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances arising after the date on which they are made.


Consolidated Statements of Income
(Unaudited)

  Thirteen Weeks Ended 
(In thousands, except per share data) November 25, 2023  November 26, 2022 
Revenues $593,525  $541,798 
       
Operating expenses:      
Cost of revenues (1)  383,796   353,972 
Selling and administrative expenses (1)  122,859   117,363 
Depreciation and amortization  33,733   27,045 
Total operating expenses  540,388   498,380 
       
Operating income  53,137   43,418 
       
Other (income) expense:      
Interest income, net  (2,834)  (2,769)
Other expense, net  716   791 
Total other income, net  (2,118)  (1,978)
       
Income before income taxes  55,255   45,396 
Provision for income taxes  12,930   11,439 
       
Net income $42,325  $33,957 
       
Income per share – Basic:      
Common Stock $2.35  $1.89 
Class B Common Stock $1.88  $1.51 
       
Income per share – Diluted:      
Common Stock $2.26  $1.81 
       
Income allocated to – Basic:      
Common Stock $35,566  $28,525 
Class B Common Stock $6,759  $5,432 
       
Income allocated to – Diluted:      
Common Stock $42,325  $33,957 
       
Weighted average shares outstanding – Basic:      
Common Stock  15,111   15,082 
Class B Common Stock  3,590   3,590 
       
Weighted average shares outstanding – Diluted:      
Common Stock  18,769   18,754 
         

(1)     Exclusive of depreciation on the Company's property, plant and equipment and amortization on its intangible assets.


Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets

(Unaudited)

(In thousands) November 25, 2023  August 26, 2023 
Assets      
Current assets:      
Cash and cash equivalents $77,380  $79,443 
Short-term investments  11,394   10,157 
Receivables, net  299,494   279,078 
Inventories  148,513   148,334 
Rental merchandise in service  249,611   248,323 
Prepaid taxes  10,284   20,907 
Prepaid expenses and other current assets  62,262   53,876 
Total current assets  858,938   840,118 
       
Property, plant and equipment, net  766,532   756,540 
Goodwill  648,797   647,900 
Customer contracts and other intangible assets, net  138,468   145,618 
Deferred income taxes  615   567 
Operating lease right-of-use assets, net  65,389   62,565 
Other assets  123,313   116,667 
Total assets $2,602,052  $2,569,975 
       
Liabilities and shareholders’ equity      
Current liabilities:      
Accounts payable $86,315  $92,730 
Accrued liabilities  155,419   156,408 
Accrued taxes     352 
Operating lease liabilities, current  17,051   17,739 
Total current liabilities  258,785   267,229 
Long-term liabilities:      
Accrued liabilities  121,720   121,682 
Accrued and deferred income taxes  131,040   130,084 
Operating lease liabilities  50,334   47,020 
Total liabilities  561,879   566,015 
       
Shareholders’ equity:      
Common Stock  1,513   1,510 
Class B Common Stock  359   359 
Capital surplus  99,537   99,303 
Retained earnings  1,962,688   1,926,549 
Accumulated other comprehensive loss  (23,924)  (23,761)
       Total shareholders’ equity  2,040,173   2,003,960 
           Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity $2,602,052  $2,569,975 
 


Detail of Operating Results

(Unaudited)

  Thirteen Weeks Ended November 25, 2023  Thirteen Weeks Ended November 26, 2022 
  Core Laundry Specialty First    Core Laundry Specialty First   
  Operations Garments Aid Total  Operations Garments Aid Total 
Revenues $523,989 $44,669 $24,867 $593,525  $477,398 $44,079 $20,321 $541,798 
Revenue Growth %  9.8% 1.3% 22.4% 9.5%         
                   
Operating Income (Loss) (1), (2) $42,091 $12,117 $(1,071)$53,137  $33,831 $10,183 $(596)$43,418 
Operating Margin  8.0% 27.1% -4.3% 9.0%  7.1% 23.1% -2.9% 8.0%
                   
EBITDA (1), (2) $73,320 $13,148 $(314)$86,154  $58,435 $11,171 $66 $69,672 
EBITDA Margin  14.0% 29.4% -1.3% 14.5%  12.2% 25.3% 0.3% 12.9%
                           

(1)     The Company's financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2024 and 2023 included approximately $2.9 million and $10.0 million, respectively, of costs directly attributable to its Key Initiatives.
(2)     The Key Initiatives' costs resulted in a decrease in both Core Laundry Operations' operating margin and EBITDA margin for the first quarter of fiscal 2024 and 2023 of 0.6% and 2.1%, respectively.


Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows

(Unaudited)

(In thousands) November 25, 2023  November 26, 2022 
Cash flows from operating activities:      
Net income $42,325  $33,957 
Adjustments to reconcile net income to cash provided by operating activities:      
Depreciation and amortization (1)  33,733   27,045 
Share-based compensation  2,534   1,461 
Accretion on environmental contingencies  316   259 
Accretion on asset retirement obligations  233   227 
Deferred income taxes  640   765 
Other  79   (42)
Changes in assets and liabilities, net of acquisitions:      
Receivables, less reserves  (20,413)  (23,675)
Inventories  (138)  8,154 
Rental merchandise in service  (1,330)  (12,961)
Prepaid expenses and other current assets and Other assets  (9,692)  (9,076)
Accounts payable  (6,663)  399 
Accrued liabilities  (6,172)  (6,655)
Prepaid and accrued income taxes  10,218   7,840 
Net cash provided by operating activities  45,670   27,698 
       
Cash flows from investing activities:      
Acquisition of businesses, net of cash acquired     (6,556)
Capital expenditures, including capitalization of software costs  (39,050)  (39,044)
Purchases of investments  (11,394)  (107,000)
Maturities of investments  10,217    
Proceeds from sale of assets  606   240 
Net cash used in investing activities  (39,621)  (152,360)
       
Cash flows from financing activities:      
Proceeds from exercise of share-based awards  2   2 
Taxes withheld and paid related to net share settlement of equity awards  (2,290)  (2,028)
Repurchase of Common Stock  (255)   
Payment of cash dividends  (5,573)  (5,570)
Net cash used in financing activities  (8,116)  (7,596)
       
Effect of exchange rate changes  4   33 
       
Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents  (2,063)  (132,225)
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period  79,443   376,399 
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period $77,380  $244,174 
 

(1)     Depreciation and amortization for the first quarter of fiscal 2024 and 2023 included approximately $4.6 million and $2.6 million, respectively, of non-cash amortization expense recognized on acquisition-related intangible assets.

Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Financial Measures

The Company reports its consolidated financial results in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”). To supplement the Company's consolidated financial results in this press release, the Company also presents EBITDA and EBITDA margin, which are non-GAAP financial measures. The Company defines EBITDA as net income before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization. EBITDA margin is defined as EBITDA for a period divided by revenue for the same period.

The Company believes these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful supplemental information regarding the performance of the Company and its segments to both management and investors. These non-GAAP financial measures exclude certain items that may impact the comparability of the Company's results. In addition, by excluding certain items, these non-GAAP financial measures enable management and investors to further evaluate the underlying operating performance of the Company.

Supplemental reconciliations of the Company's consolidated net income on a GAAP basis to EBITDA and EBITDA margin, which are non-GAAP financial measures, are presented in the following tables. Investors are encouraged to review the reconciliations of the non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, which are provided below. EBITDA and EBITDA margin should be considered in addition to, and not as substitutes for, or in isolation from, measures prepared in accordance with GAAP.

The Company does not allocate its provision for income taxes to its business segments and as a result, presents it in a separate column in the following tables.

 Thirteen Weeks Ended November 25, 2023 
  Core Laundry  Specialty  First       
(In thousands, except percentages) Operations  Garments  Aid  Other  Total 
Revenue $523,989  $44,669  $24,867  $  $593,525 
                
Net income $44,209  $12,117  $(1,071) $(12,930) $42,325 
Provision for income taxes           12,930   12,930 
Interest income, net  (2,834)           (2,834)
Depreciation and amortization  31,945   1,031   757      33,733 
EBITDA $73,320  $13,148  $(314) $  $86,154 
EBITDA Margin  14.0%  29.4%  -1.3%     14.5%
                    


 Thirteen Weeks Ended November 26, 2022 
  Core Laundry  Specialty  First       
(In thousands, except percentages) Operations  Garments  Aid  Other  Total 
Revenue $477,398  $44,079  $20,321  $  $541,798 
                
Net income $35,809  $10,183  $(596) $(11,439) $33,957 
Provision for income taxes           11,439   11,439 
Interest income, net  (2,769)           (2,769)
Depreciation and amortization  25,395   988   662      27,045 
EBITDA $58,435  $11,171  $66  $  $69,672 
EBITDA Margin  12.2%  25.3%  0.3%     12.9%


Investor Relations Contact
Shane O'Connor, Executive Vice President & CFO
UniFirst Corporation          
978-658-8888
shane_oconnor@unifirst.com 


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