WILMINGTON, Mass., June 30, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- UniFirst Corporation (NYSE: UNF) (the “Company,” “UniFirst” or “we”) today reported results for its third quarter ended May 29, 2021 as compared to the corresponding period in the prior fiscal year:

Q3 2021 Financial Highlights

• Consolidated revenues for the third quarter increased 4.2% to $464.3 million.
• Operating income was $54.2 million, an increase of 95.5%.
• The quarterly tax rate increased to 22.9% compared to 21.8% in the prior year.
• Net income increased to $42.0 million, or 97.4%.
• Diluted earnings per share increased to $2.21 from $1.12, or 97.3%.

Steven Sintros, UniFirst President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “For over a year, our Team Partners have continued to put forth tremendous efforts in the face of the many obstacles created by the pandemic. They have worked extremely hard to take care of each other and our customers during these challenging times and I want to personally thank them for their extraordinary performance.”

Segment Reporting Highlights

Core Laundry Operations

• Revenues for the quarter increased 5.3% to $409.0 million primarily driven by the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacting our customers’ operations and wearer levels in the prior year comparable period. This increase was partially offset by a large direct sale of $20.1 million also in the prior year.
• Operating margin increased to 11.2% from 5.1%. The increase was primarily driven by several items affecting our prior year comparable period, including the impact of the decline in rental revenues on our cost structure, higher cost of revenues related to the large $20.1 million direct sale, higher bad debt expense and additional costs the Company incurred responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Specialty Garments

• Revenues for the quarter were $38.2 million, an increase of 5.7%. This increase was primarily due to growth in our cleanroom operations as well as growth in European nuclear operations.
• Operating margin increased to 21.7% from 17.6% a year ago. This increase was primarily due to lower merchandise costs and bad debt expense as percentage of revenue as well as costs incurred in the prior year responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. These benefits were partially offset by higher healthcare and payroll-related costs 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 $535.0 million as of May 29, 2021.
• The Company had no long-term debt outstanding as of May 29, 2021.
• In the third fiscal quarter of 2021, the Company did not purchase any shares of common stock under its previously announced $100.0 million stock repurchase program. As of May 29, 2021, the Company had repurchased a total of 368,117 shares of common stock for a total of $61.8 million under the program.
• Weighted average shares outstanding – Diluted for the third quarter of fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2020 were 19.1 million and 19.0 million shares, respectively.

Financial Outlook

Mr. Sintros continued, “Based on our results to date as well as our outlook for the remainder of the year, we now expect our revenues for fiscal 2021 to be between $1.810 billion and $1.817 billion and fully diluted earnings per share to be between $7.80 and $8.00. Increased business activity from a recovering economy is a welcome sight. However, as we look forward to fiscal 2022, we do expect our margins to be pressured by the current inflationary environment as well as a rebound of certain costs that trended lower during the pandemic.”

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, 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 260 service locations, over 300,000 customer locations, and 14,000-plus employee Team Partners, the Company outfits nearly 2 million workers each business day. For more information, contact UniFirst at 800.455.7654 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 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,” “strategy,” “objective,” “assume,” “strive,” 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 adverse economic conditions, including, without limitation, as a result of extraordinary events or circumstances such as 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 and successfully integrate acquired 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 COVID-19 pandemic, any loss of key management or other personnel, increased costs as a result of any changes in federal or state laws, rules and regulations or governmental interpretation of such laws, rules and regulations, uncertainties regarding the price levels of natural gas, electricity, fuel and labor, the negative effect on our business from sharply depressed oil and natural gas prices, including, without limitation, as a result of extraordinary events or circumstances such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the continuing increase in domestic healthcare costs, increased workers’ compensation claim costs, increased healthcare claim costs, including as a result of extraordinary events or circumstances such as the COVID-19 pandemic, 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, including, without limitation, as a result of extraordinary events or circumstances such as the COVID-19 pandemic, our ability to properly and efficiently design, construct, implement and operate a new customer relationship management (“CRM”) 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 Securities and Exchange Commission, New York Stock Exchange and accounting rules, 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 and the other factors described under “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and elsewhere in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended August 29, 2020, “Item 1.A. Risk Factors” and elsewhere in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q 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 they are made.

Consolidated Statements of Income
(Unaudited)

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

Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
(Unaudited)

Detail of Operating Results
(Unaudited)

Revenues

Operating Income

Operating Margin

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
(Unaudited)

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

Source: UniFirst Corporation