Revenues Expected to Increase 10% - 15% to $2.25 Billion - $2.35 Billion
Excluding Special Charges, Earnings Per Diluted Share Expected to Increase
15% - 20% to $1.14 - $1.19, and $1.02 - $1.07 Per Diluted Share
Including Share Based Compensation
DAYVILLE, Conn., Nov. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- United Natural Foods,
Inc., (Nasdaq: UNFI) today updated its financial outlook for the fiscal year
ending July 31, 2006 to include the impact of share based compensation expense
related to the implementation of FAS123R which was adopted on August 1, 2005.
As previously announced on July 13, 2005, revenues for the fiscal year
ending July 31, 2006 are expected to increase approximately 10% to 15% from
fiscal 2005 levels to a range of $2.25 billion to $2.35 billion. Fiscal year
2006 earnings per diluted share, excluding special items and share based
compensation, is expected to be in the range of $1.14 to $1.19 per share, an
increase of 15% to 20% over fiscal 2005 levels, excluding special items.
The Company announced today that during the 2006 fiscal year, it expects
to incur approximately $6.0 million to $8.2 million of share based
compensation expense on a pre-tax basis, or $0.08 to $0.11 per diluted share
after tax, excluding special items. The Company expects to incur $1.4 million
to $2.0 million of share based compensation expense on a pre-tax basis, or
$0.02 to $0.03 per share after tax during the first quarter of the 2006 fiscal
year, excluding special items. The actual expenses recorded during the 2006
fiscal year may fluctuate based on factors such as the actual number of equity
awards granted to employees, changes in the Company's stock price, and the
valuation methods and underlying assumptions used in estimating the fair value
of share based payments.
Special items may include labor, moving and other costs related to the
expansion of the Company's distribution facilities. However, at this time the
Company does not know the extent or significance of these items or whether the
Company will in fact incur any of these or other special items in fiscal 2006.
The Company's guidance is based on a number of assumptions, which are
subject to change and many of which are outside the control of the Company.
If any of these assumptions vary, the Company's guidance may change. There
can be no assurance that the Company will achieve these results. A
description of the Company's use of non-GAAP information is provided under
"Non-GAAP Results" below.
About United Natural Foods
United Natural Foods, Inc. carries and distributes more than 40,000
products to more than 20,000 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.
"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 quarterly report on Form 10-K
filed with the Commission on October 13, 2005, 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.
Non-GAAP Results: To supplement its financial statements presented on a
basis of generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of
America (GAAP), the Company uses non-GAAP additional measures of operating
results, net earnings and earnings per share adjusted to exclude special
charges. The Company believes that the use of these additional measures is
appropriate to enhance an overall understanding of its past financial
performance and also its prospects for the future as these special charges are
not expected to be part of the Company's ongoing business. The adjustments to
the Company's GAAP results are made with the intent of providing both
management and investors with a more complete understanding of the underlying
operational results and trends and its marketplace performance. For example,
these adjusted non-GAAP results are among the primary indicators management
uses as a basis for its planning and forecasting of future periods. The
presentation of this additional information is not meant to be considered in
isolation or as a substitute for net earnings or diluted earnings per share
prepared in accordance with GAAP.
SOURCE United Natural Foods, Inc.
CONTACT: Rick Puckett, Chief Financial Officer of United Natural Foods,
Inc., 1-860-779-2800; or General Information - Joseph Calabrese of Financial
Relations Board, 1-212-827-3772
Web site: http://www.unfi.com
(UNFI)