Unifirst Announces Financial Results for the Third Quarter of Fiscal 2024


WILMINGTON, Mass., June 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- UniFirst Corporation (NYSE: UNF) (the “Company,” “UniFirst” or “we”) today reported results for its third quarter ended May 25, 2024 as compared to the corresponding period in the prior fiscal year:

Q3 2024 Financial Highlights

  • Consolidated revenues for the third quarter increased 4.6% to $603.3 million.
  • Operating income was $48.5 million, an increase of 45.1%.
  • The quarterly tax rate decreased to 22.9% compared to 27.2% in the prior year.
  • Net income increased to $38.1 million from $24.3 million in the prior year, or 56.8%.
  • Diluted earnings per share increased to $2.03 from $1.29 in the prior year, or 57.4%.
  • EBITDA increased to $82.5 million compared to $64.0 million in the prior year, or 29.0%.
  • Cash flow from operating activities increased to $193.0 million in the first nine months of 2024, an increase of 35.2% over the prior year.

The Company's financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2024 and 2023 included approximately $3.9 million and $8.4 million, respectively, of costs directly attributable to its customer relationship management (“CRM”) computer system and enterprise resource planning (“ERP”) project. The Company refers to the CRM and ERP projects together as its (“Key Initiatives”). In addition, the Company incurred costs related to the acquisition of Clean Uniform during the third quarter of fiscal 2023 of approximately $0.7 million. The effect of these items on the third quarter of fiscal 2024 and 2023 combined to decrease:

  • Both operating income and EBITDA by $3.9 million and $9.1 million, respectively.
  • Net income by $2.9 million and $6.8 million, respectively.
  • Diluted earnings per share by $0.16 and $0.37, respectively.

Steven Sintros, UniFirst President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “We are pleased with the results for our third quarter, which delivered solid growth in revenues, EBITDA and cash flows from operating activities. I want to sincerely thank all 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 5.3% to $528.5 million.
  • Organic growth, which excludes the effect of acquisitions and fluctuations in the Canadian dollar, was 4.7%.
  • Operating margin increased to 7.0% from 4.2%.
  • Core Laundry Operations' EBITDA margin increased to 13.1% from 9.9%.

The costs we incurred related to the Key Initiatives and the Clean acquisition, discussed above, were recorded to the Core Laundry Operations’ segment, and combined to decrease both the Core Laundry Operations’ operating and EBITDA margins for the third quarters of fiscal 2024 and 2023 by 0.7% and 1.8%, respectively.

The segment's operating and EBITDA margin comparisons benefited from elevated expense in the prior year related to higher healthcare claims and costs related to a legal matter.  In addition, merchandise, payroll and other operating input costs were lower in the third quarter of fiscal 2024 as a percentage of revenues.

Specialty Garments

  • Revenues for the quarter were $47.6 million, a decrease of 3.7%, which was due primarily to a decline in revenue from our nuclear operations. Partially offsetting this decrease was growth in the segment's cleanroom operations.
  • Operating margin decreased to 23.9% from 25.2% a year ago, primarily as a result of increased production costs, selling payroll costs and depreciation expense as a percentage of revenues. These margin pressures were partially offset by lower merchandise cost as a percentage of revenue.
  • 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 $125.4 million as of May 25, 2024.
  • The Company had no long-term debt outstanding as of May 25, 2024.
  • The Company repurchased 47,250 shares of Common Stock for $7.8 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2024. As of May 25, 2024, the Company had $84.0 million remaining under its existing share repurchase authorization.
  • Weighted average shares outstanding – Diluted for both the third quarter of fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2023 were 18.7 million.

Financial Outlook

Mr. Sintros continued, “We continue to expect our revenues for fiscal 2024 to be between $2.415 billion and $2.425 billion, however, we now expect fully diluted earnings per share to be between $7.17 and $7.49.” Our outlook for fiscal 2024 includes one extra week of operations compared to fiscal 2023 due to the timing of our fiscal quarter, and assumes:

  • Core Laundry Operations’ organic growth at the midpoint of the range of 4.5%.
  • Core Laundry Operations’ operating and EBITDA margins at the midpoint of the range of 6.6% and 12.7%, respectively.
  • An estimate of $12.0 million of costs directly attributable to our Key Initiatives that will be expensed in fiscal 2024 and will decrease both the Core Laundry Operations’ operating and EBITDA margins by 0.6%.
  • An effective tax rate of 24.5%.
  • No impact from any future share buybacks or unexpected significantly adverse economic developments.

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 adopted by the SEC regarding climate-related and cybersecurity-related disclosures, strikes and unemployment levels, our efforts to evaluate and potentially reduce internal costs, the impact of foreign trade policies and tariffs or other impositions on imported goods on our business, results of operations and financial condition, 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.

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

Consolidated Statements of Income
(Unaudited)

  Thirteen Weeks Ended  Thirty-Nine Weeks Ended 
(In thousands, except per share data) May 25, 2024  May 27, 2023  May 25, 2024  May 27, 2023 
Revenues $603,328  $576,668  $1,787,564  $1,661,157 
             
Operating expenses:            
Cost of revenues (1)  391,244   379,419   1,171,231   1,103,287 
Selling and administrative expenses (1)  129,074   132,677   383,350   372,230 
Depreciation and amortization  34,560   31,175   103,453   88,115 
Total operating expenses  554,878   543,271   1,658,034   1,563,632 
             
Operating income  48,450   33,397   129,530   97,525 
             
Other expense (income):            
Interest income, net  (1,406)  (553)  (4,590)  (6,353)
Other expense, net  522   621   1,813   1,526 
Total other (income) expense, net  (884)  68   (2,777)  (4,827)
             
Income before income taxes  49,334   33,329   132,307   102,352 
Provision for income taxes  11,277   9,053   31,468   26,309 
             
Net income $38,057  $24,276  $100,839  $76,043 
             
Income per share – Basic:            
Common Stock $2.12  $1.35  $5.61  $4.23 
Class B Common Stock $1.70  $1.08  $4.49  $3.39 
             
Income per share – Diluted:            
Common Stock $2.03  $1.29  $5.38  $4.06 
             
Income allocated to – Basic:            
Common Stock $31,962  $20,394  $84,716  $63,882 
Class B Common Stock $6,095  $3,882  $16,123  $12,161 
             
Income allocated to – Diluted:            
Common Stock $38,057  $24,276  $100,839  $76,043 
             
Weighted average shares outstanding – Basic:            
Common Stock  15,062   15,087   15,094   15,084 
Class B Common Stock  3,590   3,590   3,590   3,590 
             
Weighted average shares outstanding – Diluted:            
Common Stock  18,705   18,748   18,738   18,751 
                 
(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) May 25, 2024  August 26, 2023 
Assets      
Current assets:      
Cash and cash equivalents $112,246  $79,443 
Short-term investments  13,186   10,157 
Receivables, net  284,363   279,078 
Inventories  161,487   148,334 
Rental merchandise in service  242,971   248,323 
Prepaid taxes  13,679   20,907 
Prepaid expenses and other current assets  56,457   53,876 
Total current assets  884,389   840,118 
Property, plant and equipment, net  790,031   756,540 
Goodwill  648,795   647,900 
Customer contracts and other intangible assets, net  125,877   145,618 
Deferred income taxes  729   567 
Operating lease right-of-use assets, net  66,702   62,565 
Other assets  134,895   116,667 
Total assets $2,651,418  $2,569,975 
Liabilities and shareholders’ equity      
Current liabilities:      
Accounts payable $86,273  $92,730 
Accrued liabilities  165,386   156,408 
Accrued taxes     352 
Operating lease liabilities, current  18,160   17,739 
Total current liabilities  269,819   267,229 
Long-term liabilities:      
Accrued liabilities  124,361   121,682 
Accrued and deferred income taxes  130,954   130,084 
Operating lease liabilities  50,676   47,020 
Total liabilities  575,810   566,015 
Shareholders’ equity:      
Common Stock  1,504   1,510 
Class B Common Stock  359   359 
Capital surplus  103,097   99,303 
Retained earnings  1,994,279   1,926,549 
Accumulated other comprehensive loss  (23,631)  (23,761)
Total shareholders’ equity  2,075,608   2,003,960 
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity $2,651,418  $2,569,975 
 

Detail of Operating Results
(Unaudited)

  Thirteen Weeks Ended May 25, 2024  Thirteen Weeks Ended May 27, 2023 
  Core
Laundry
 Specialty First    Core
Laundry
 Specialty First   
(In thousands, except percentages) Operations Garments Aid Total  Operations Garments Aid Total 
Revenues $528,454 $47,582 $27,292 $603,328  $501,719 $49,407 $25,542 $576,668 
Revenue Growth %  5.3% -3.7% 6.9% 4.6%         
                   
Operating Income (Loss) (1), (2) $36,929 $11,373 $148 $48,450  $20,995 $12,455 $(53)$33,397 
Operating Margin  7.0% 23.9% 0.5% 8.0%  4.2% 25.2% -0.2% 5.8%
                   
EBITDA (1), (2) $69,123 $12,408 $957 $82,488  $49,812 $13,400 $739 $63,951 
EBITDA Margin  13.1% 26.1% 3.5% 13.7%  9.9% 27.1% 2.9% 11.1%
                           
(1)  The Company's financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2024 and 2023 included approximately $3.9 million and $8.4 million, respectively, of costs directly attributable to its Key Initiatives. In addition, the Company incurred costs related to the acquisition of Clean Uniform during the third quarter of fiscal 2023 of approximately $0.7 million. These costs were recorded to the Core Laundry Operations.
(2)  The Key Initiatives' costs and Clean acquisition costs combined to decrease both Core Laundry Operations' operating margin and EBITDA margin for the third quarter of fiscal 2024 and 2023 by 0.7% and 1.8%, respectively.
                           


  Thirty-Nine Weeks Ended May 25, 2024        Thirty-Nine Weeks Ended May 27, 2023       
  Core
Laundry 
Specialty  First      Core
Laundry 
Specialty  First     
(In thousands, except percentages)  Operations Garments  Aid  Total    Operations  Garments  Aid  Total  
Revenues $1,574,863 $135,713 $76,988 $1,787,564  $1,456,167 $135,613 $69,377 $1,661,157 
Revenue Growth %  8.2% 0.1% 11% 7.6%             
                           
Operating Income (Loss) (3), (4) $98,066 $33,391 $(1,927)$129,530  $68,468 $30,683 $(1,626)$97,525 
Operating Margin  6.2% 24.6% -2.5% 7.2%  4.7% 22.6% -2.3% 5.9%
                           
EBITDA (3), (4) $194,089 $36,478 $603 $231,170  $149,754 $33,668 $692 $184,114 
EBITDA Margin  12.3% 26.9% 0.8% 12.9%  10.3% 24.8% 1% 11.1%
                           
(3)  The Company's financial results for the first nine months of fiscal 2024 and 2023 included approximately $10.0 million and $27.5 million, respectively, of costs directly attributable to its Key Initiatives. In addition, the Company incurred costs related to the acquisition of Clean Uniform during the first nine months of fiscal 2023 of approximately $2.7 million. These costs were recorded to the Core Laundry Operations.
(4)  The Key Initiatives' costs and Clean acquisition costs combined to decrease both Core Laundry Operations' operating margin and EBITDA margin for the first nine months of fiscal 2024 and 2023 by 0.6% and 2.1%, respectively.
                           

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
(Unaudited)

(In thousands) May 25, 2024  May 27, 2023 
Cash flows from operating activities:      
Net income $100,839  $76,043 
Adjustments to reconcile net income to cash provided by operating activities:      
Depreciation and amortization (1)  103,453   88,115 
Share-based compensation  7,145   6,874 
Accretion on environmental contingencies  948   777 
Accretion on asset retirement obligations  721   690 
Deferred income taxes  4,048   11,709 
Other  1,061   16 
Changes in assets and liabilities, net of acquisitions:      
Receivables, less reserves  (5,288)  (22,148)
Inventories  (13,101)  2,110 
Rental merchandise in service  5,308   (19,544)
Prepaid expenses and other current assets and Other assets  (11,518)  67 
Accounts payable  (5,118)  3,492 
Accrued liabilities  (3,212)  (13,152)
Prepaid and accrued income taxes  7,726   7,758 
Net cash provided by operating activities  193,012   142,807 
       
Cash flows from investing activities:      
Acquisition of businesses, net of cash acquired  (203)  (306,192)
Capital expenditures, including capitalization of software costs  (121,937)  (124,067)
Purchases of investments  (24,581)  (117,012)
Maturities of investments  21,679   107,000 
Proceeds from sale of assets  749   517 
Net cash used in investing activities  (124,293)  (439,754)
       
Cash flows from financing activities:      
Payment of deferred financing costs     (851)
Borrowings under line of credit     80,000 
Repayments under line of credit     (80,000)
Proceeds from exercise of share-based awards  3   3 
Taxes withheld and paid related to net share settlement of equity awards  (2,731)  (2,850)
Repurchase of Common Stock  (15,962)   
Payment of cash dividends  (17,436)  (16,527)
Net cash used in financing activities  (36,126)  (20,225)
       
Effect of exchange rate changes  210   76 
       
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents  32,803   (317,096)
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period  79,443   376,399 
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period $112,246  $59,303 
 
(1)  Depreciation and amortization for the first nine months of fiscal 2024 and 2023 included approximately $13.9 million and $9.8 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 May 25, 2024 
  Core Laundry  Specialty  First       
(In thousands, except percentages) Operations  Garments  Aid  Other  Total 
Revenue $528,454  $47,582  $27,292  $  $603,328 
                
Net income $37,813  $11,373  $148  $(11,277) $38,057 
Provision for income taxes           11,277   11,277 
Interest income, net  (1,406)           (1,406)
Depreciation and amortization  32,716   1,035   809      34,560 
EBITDA $69,123  $12,408  $957  $  $82,488 
EBITDA Margin  13.1%  26.1%  3.5%     13.7%


 Thirteen Weeks Ended May 27, 2023 
  Core Laundry  Specialty  First       
(In thousands, except percentages) Operations  Garments  Aid  Other  Total 
Revenue $501,719  $49,407  $25,542  $  $576,668 
                
Net income $20,927  $12,455  $(53) $(9,053) $24,276 
Provision for income taxes           9,053   9,053 
Interest income, net  (553)           (553)
Depreciation and amortization  29,438   945   792      31,175 
EBITDA $49,812  $13,400  $739  $  $63,951 
EBITDA Margin  9.9%  27.1%  2.9%     11.1%


 Thirty-Nine Weeks Ended May 25, 2024                     
  Core Laundry  Specialty  First       
(In thousands, except percentages) Operations  Garments  Aid  Other  Total 
Revenue $1,574,863  $135,713  $76,988  $  $1,787,564 
                
Net income $100,843  $33,391  $(1,927) $(31,468) $100,839 
Provision for income taxes           31,468   31,468 
Interest income, net  (4,590)           (4,590)
Depreciation and amortization  97,836   3,087   2,530      103,453 
EBITDA $194,089  $36,478  $603  $  $231,170 
EBITDA Margin  12.3%  26.9%  0.8%     12.9%


 Thirty-Nine Weeks Ended May 27, 2023 
  Core Laundry  Specialty  First       
(In thousands, except percentages) Operations  Garments  Aid  Other  Total 
Revenue $1,456,167  $135,613  $69,377  $  $1,661,157 
                
Net income $73,295  $30,683  $(1,626) $(26,309) $76,043 
Provision for income taxes           26,309   26,309 
Interest income, net  (6,353)           (6,353)
Depreciation and amortization  82,812   2,985   2,318      88,115 
EBITDA $149,754  $33,668  $692  $  $184,114 
EBITDA Margin  10.3%  24.8%  1.0%     11.1%
                    

Supplemental reconciliations of the Company’s fiscal 2024 financial outlook for consolidated net income on a GAAP basis to EBITDA and EBITDA margin, which are non-GAAP financial measures, are presented in the following table. In addition, supplemental reconciliations of the fiscal 2024 financial outlook for segments’ net income on a GAAP basis to segments’ EBITDA and EBITDA margin, which are non-GAAP financial measures, are also presented in the following table.

Investors are encouraged to review the reconciliations of the outlook for these non-GAAP measures to the outlook for their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, which are provided below. The Company’s outlook contains forward-looking statements and information. Actual results may differ materially. See “Forward-Looking Statements Disclosure.”

  Fifty-Three Weeks Ended August 31, 2024 (1) 
        Specialty Garments, 
     Core Laundry  First Aid, and 
(In thousands, except percentages) Consolidated  Operations  Other 
Revenue $2,420,000  $2,138,000  $282,000 
          
Net income $137,400  $144,000  $(6,600)
Provision for income taxes  44,600      44,600 
Interest income, net  (5,500)  (5,500)   
Depreciation and amortization  140,900   133,400   7,500 
EBITDA $317,400  $271,900  $45,500 
EBITDA Margin  13.1%  12.7%  16.1%
 
(1)  Amounts represent the midpoint of the Company’s fiscal 2024 financial outlook.