Strategic Addition Bolsters Company's Position in the
Health & Beauty Aids and Vitamins, Minerals & Supplements Markets DAYVILLE, Conn., Dec. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- United Natural Foods,
Inc. (Nasdaq: UNFI) (the "Company") today announced the acquisition of Select
Nutrition Distributors, Inc. ("Select Nutrition"), a privately owned
distributor of health and beauty aids ("HBA") and vitamins, minerals and
supplements ("VMS"). Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Select Nutrition carries and distributes over 14,000 products,
representing over 450 manufacturers, to approximately 5,000 customers
nationwide from two warehouse facilities in Philadelphia, PA and Visalia, CA.
Founded in 1975, Select Nutrition distributes branded vitamins, herbs, dietary
supplements, health and beauty aids to health food stores, pharmacies,
practitioners, sports clubs and spas.
"We are very excited about the opportunities this acquisition presents,"
Steven Townsend, United Natural Foods' Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
said. "Select Nutrition has been a long-standing partner and its franchise is
a terrific complement to the United Natural Foods organization. We believe the
combined resources of our two organizations will result in enhanced presence
and increased market share and serve to rationalize distribution for the
Company in the HBA and VMS categories."
United Natural Foods expects that the acquisition will be slightly
dilutive for the current quarter, neutral to the full year fiscal 2005
earnings per share and accretive thereafter.
About United Natural Foods
United Natural Foods, Inc. carries and distributes over 35,000 products to
more than 18,000 customers nationwide. The Company serves a wide variety of
retail formats including conventional supermarket chains, natural product
superstores, independent retail operators and the food service channel. For
more information on United Natural Foods, Inc., visit the Company's website at
http://www.unfi.com.
For more information on United Natural Foods, Inc., visit the Company's
website at http://www.unfi.com.
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding the Company's business
that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve
risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties,
which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the
forward-looking statements, including but not limited to general business
conditions, the impact of competition and our dependence on principal
customers, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's first quarter fiscal 2005
report on Form 10-Q filed with the Commission on December 10, 2004, and its
other filings under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Any
forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and, as such, speak only as of the date made.
The Company is not undertaking to update any information in the foregoing
reports until the effective date of its future reports required by applicable
laws. Any projections of future results of operations should not be construed
in any manner as a guarantee that such results will in fact occur. These
projections are subject to change and could differ materially from final
reported results. The Company may from time to time update these publicly
announced projections, but it is not obligated to do so.
SOURCE United Natural Foods, Inc.
12/21/2004
CONTACT: Rick Puckett, Chief Financial Officer of United Natural Foods,
Inc., +1-860-779-2800; or General Information - Joseph Calabrese of the
Financial Relations Board, +1-212-827-3772, for United Natural Foods, Inc.
Web site: http://www.unfi.com
(UNFI)