Net income decreased by 3.2 per cent to $24.3 million, down from $25.1 million in the prior year. Diluted earnings per share followed a similar trend, dipping 3 per cent to $1.29 from $1.33 in the previous year, the company said in a press release.
Despite these downturns, the company recorded a positive EBITDA increase of 6.1 per cent, moving up to $64 million compared to $60.3 million in the previous year.
“We are pleased with our strong top line performance in the quarter, but continue to be focused as a Company on mitigating the cost pressures impacting our operations. The early days of our recently closed acquisition of Clean Uniform have been very constructive with initial efforts being focused primarily on retaining Clean’s most important assets—its people and its customers. We continue to be excited about the strength and quality of the Clean business and what we continue to believe the combined companies will be able to achieve in the markets we serve together,” said Steven Sintros, Unifirst president and chief executive officer.
The company's core laundry operations reported an 11.5 per cent YoY increase in quarterly revenues to $501.7 million. The segment's organic growth, which excludes the effect of acquisitions and fluctuations in the Canadian dollar, was marked at 7.8 per cent. The operating margin for this sector fell to 4.2 per cent from 5.9 per cent, and EBITDA margin also decreased to 9.9 per cent from 11.4 per cent.
In contrast, the specialty garments segment’s quarterly revenues jumped 19.9 per cent YoY to $49.4 million, driven by growth in the segment's cleanroom and North American nuclear operations. The operating margin in this sector improved significantly to 25.2 per cent, up from 17.4 per cent a year ago, mainly due to the robust top-line performance. Similarly, the segment's EBITDA margin increased to 27.1 per cent from 19.9 per cent.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DP)