UniFirst Q3 Results Beat View; Lifts 2014 Outlook

(RTTNews) - UniFirst Corp. (UNF), a provider of workplace uniforms and protective work wear clothing, on Wednesday reported an 8 percent increase in profit for the third quarter from last year on higher revenues.

Both revenue and earnings per share for the quarter beat analysts' expectations. Looking ahead, the company raised its earnings and revenue outlook for fiscal 2014.

Ronald Croatti, UniFirst President and Chief Executive Officer said, "Overall we were pleased with our results for the quarter. We continue to get solid performances from our sales and service organizations in two areas that are integral to our success; selling new business and retaining existing customer relationships."

For the third quarter ended May 31, 2014, UniFirst's net income was $30.94 million or $1.53 per share, up from $28.72 million or $1.43 per share in the previous year. On average, seven analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $1.42 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenues for the quarter increased 5 percent to $352.24 million from $335.76 million in the year-ago quarter. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $349.24 million for the quarter.

Revenues from the company's core Laundry operations rose 5.2 percent to $313.31 million. Excluding the negative impact of the weaker Canadian dollar and specialty merchandise buyout, as well as the positive effect of acquisitions, core laundry operations' revenues grew 4.8 percent.

Revenues from Specialty Garments' segment rose 4.9 percent to $27.62 million, primarily due to a higher number of power reactor outage projects in the U.S. and Canada compared to a year ago.

Looking ahead to fiscal 2014, UniFirst raised its earnings outlook to a range of $5.70 to $5.85 per share from the prior range of $5.60 to $5.75 per share. The company also raised its revenues outlook to a range of $1.382 billion to $1.387 billion from the prior range of $1.372 billion to $1.385 billion.

Analysts expect the company to report earnings of $5.71 per share for the year on revenue of $1.38 billion.

The company noted that its fiscal 2014 will be a 52-week year, compared to fiscal 2013 that was a 53-week year.

According to UniFirst, the negative comparison of one less week of operations will have impact of reducing year-over-year revenues by about 2 percent and fourth-quarter revenues by about 7.1 percent.

UNF is currently trading at $107.07, up $0.22 or 0.21 percent on a volume of 15,558 shares.