WILMINGTON, Mass., March 29, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- UniFirst Corporation (NYSE:UNF) today announced results for its second quarter of fiscal 2017 which ended February 25, 2017. Revenues for the quarter were $391.4 million, up 7.8% from $363.1 million in the year ago period.  Net income was $22.5 million ($1.10 per diluted share), down 4.2% from $23.5 million ($1.16 per diluted share) in the second quarter of fiscal 2016. Results for the second quarter of fiscal 2017 include the impact of the Company’s acquisition of Arrow Uniform (Arrow) which was completed in September 2016.

Core Laundry revenues in the quarter were $358.4 million, up 8.2% from those in the prior year’s second quarter.  Adjusting for the estimated effect of acquisitions as well as a stronger Canadian dollar compared to a year ago, Core Laundry revenues grew 2.2%. 

Ronald D. Croatti, UniFirst President and Chief Executive Officer said, “We are encouraged by the improvement during the second quarter of the Core Laundry Operations’ organic growth rate.  Recent trends indicate that wearer levels at existing customers have stabilized after enduring two years of significant reductions in our North American energy-dependent markets. In addition, overall new sales as well as customer retention are also trending positively compared to the first half of 2016.”

Core Laundry operating income was $33.1 million during the quarter, an 8.5% decrease from the prior year. Its operating margin was 9.2%, down from 10.9% for the same period in fiscal 2016.  The margin decline was primarily the result of higher selling and administrative expenses as a percentage of revenues.  In addition, the estimated impact of the acquisition of Arrow decreased the Core Laundry operating margin by 0.6%.

Revenues from our Specialty Garments segment, which consists of nuclear decontamination and cleanroom operations, increased 6.5% in the quarter compared to the same period a year ago, and operating income was $2.1 million compared to $1.1 million in last year’s second quarter. The improvement in results during the quarter was driven by this segment’s US and Canadian nuclear operations. This segment’s results can vary significantly from period to period due to seasonality and the timing of reactor outages and projects.

UniFirst continues to maintain a strong balance sheet with no long-term debt and significant cash balances. Excluding the $119.9 million cash purchase price paid for the Arrow acquisition, cash and cash equivalents increased $69.6 million during the first half of the year.  As of February 25, 2017, our cash and cash equivalents were $313.5 million.

Outlook
Mr. Croatti said, “During our last earnings call, we communicated that we expected full year revenues for fiscal 2017 would be between $1.550 billion and $1.565 billion and full year diluted earnings per share would be between $4.85 and $5.00.  We now expect that our full year results will come in at the higher ends of these previously communicated ranges.”

Conference Call Information
UniFirst will hold a conference call today at 10:00 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 is a North American leader in the supply and servicing of uniform and workwear programs, as well as the delivery of facility service programs. Together with its subsidiaries, the company also provides first aid and safety products, and manages specialized garment programs for the cleanroom and nuclear industries. UniFirst manufactures its own branded workwear, protective clothing, and floorcare products, and with 240 service locations, 300,000 customer locations, and 13,000 employee Team Partners, the company outfits nearly 2 million workers each business day. UniFirst is a publicly held company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol UNF and is a component of the Standard & Poor's 600 Small Cap Index.  For more information, contact UniFirst at 800.455.7654 or visit www.unifirst.com.

Forward Looking Statements
This public announcement contains forward looking statements that reflect the Company’s current views with respect to future events and financial performance, including projected revenues 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 “estimates,” “anticipates,” “projects,” “plans,” “expects,” “intends,” “believes,” “seeks,” “could,” “should,” “may,” “will,” 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, our ability to maintain and grow Arrow’s customer base and enhance its operating margins, our ability to compete successfully without any significant degradation in our margin rates, uncertainties caused by the continuing adverse worldwide economic conditions and their impact on our customers’ businesses and workforce levels, 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, uncertainties regarding our ability to consummate and successfully integrate acquired businesses, our ability to preserve positive labor relationships and avoid becoming the target of corporate labor unionization campaigns that could disrupt our business, the continuing increase in domestic healthcare costs, including the ultimate impact of the Affordable Care Act, our retention of customers and renewal of customer contracts, uncertainties regarding the price levels of natural gas, electricity, fuel and labor, the negative effect on our business from sharply depressed oil prices, fluctuation on our revenue and net income from our specialty garments segment, the effect of currency fluctuations on our results of operations and financial condition, rampant criminal activity and instability in Mexico where our principal garment manufacturing plants are located, the impact on our goodwill and intangibles that might result from adverse financial and economic changes, our ability to properly and efficiently design, construct, implement and operate our new customer relationship management (“CRM”) computer system, interruptions or failures of our information technology systems, including as a result of cyber-attacks, failure to comply with other state and federal regulations that might result in penalties or costs, seasonal and quarterly fluctuations in business levels, any loss of key management or other personnel,  our dependence on third parties to supply us with raw materials, increased costs as a result of any future changes in federal or state laws, rules and regulations or governmental interpretation of such laws, rules and regulations, demand and prices for our products and services, economic and other developments associated with the war on terrorism and its impact on the economy, general economic conditions and other factors described under “Item 1A. Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended August 27, 2016 and in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to update any forward looking statements to reflect events or circumstances arising after the date on which such statements are made.

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CONTACT: Steven S. Sintros, Senior Vice President & CFO

UniFirst Corporation68 Jonspin RoadWilmington, MA 01887
Phone: 978- 658-8888
Fax: 978-988-0659
Email:  ssintros@UniFirst.com