SpartanNash (NASDAQ: SPTN) reported Q1 EPS of $0.55, $0.02 better than the analyst estimate of $0.53. Revenue for the quarter came in at $2.39 billion versus the consensus estimate of $2.38 billion.

“We are pleased with our performance in the first quarter and continued resilience in a challenging and evolving landscape,” said David Staples, President and Chief Executive Officer. “Once again, we delivered on our financial and strategic objectives and remain on track to achieve our guidance for the year. Sales were driven by strong growth in the food distribution and military segments as we benefited from our key initiatives to drive sales with both new and existing customers. At retail, we also continue to implement a number of innovative concepts, which contributed to a sequential improvement in comparable store sales this quarter. Early in the first quarter, we cycled the acquisition of Caito (Caito Foods Service) and BRT (Blue Ribbon Transport), and are pleased to report that with the management team and systems now in place at Caito, we are experiencing improved trends in both productivity and profitability.”

Outlook

Mr. Staples continued, “We continue to be pleased with our ability to grow sales volumes, specifically in the food distribution and military segments, as we enhance and develop new and innovative solutions for our customers. This innovative spirit and our team’s ability to attract new customers, as well as help existing accounts grow, has us excited about our prospects for 2018 and beyond. In our food distribution segment, we are making investments to optimize our network and better serve our customers, and as a result, we anticipate incremental sales with our high-growth food distribution customers. We are also excited about the progress made to date with our food processing operations and look forward to realizing additional sales volume over the remainder of the year. In our military segment, new commissary business in the Southwest will benefit sales comparisons for the first half of 2018 and the ongoing expansion of the DeCA private brand program will also drive sales growth. We continue to expect that our retail stores’ comparable sales trends will improve to slightly negative to flat by the end of the year as our stores benefit from several of our innovative concepts and initiatives. While higher transportation costs are expected to remain a headwind, we are working to mitigate the impact across all segments. We believe that our strategic initiatives combined with the strength and stability of our extensive distribution network will enable continued growth.”

The Company is updating its guidance for the first half of fiscal 2018 and reaffirming its guidance for the full year fiscal 2018. For the first half, the Company expects adjusted earnings per share to be below the prior year adjusted earnings per share of $1.15. The Company anticipates that results will be $0.02 to $0.06 below the prior year due to the shift in timing of certain supplier programs, a delay in the launch of a significant new customer program and a challenging retail environment, partially offset by the Company’s sustained sales growth, the benefits of tax reform and sequential improvements in Caito operations.

For fiscal 2018, the Company anticipates adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations(6) of approximately $2.20 to $2.32, excluding merger/acquisition and integration expenses, restructuring charges and other adjusted items of $8.0 million to $10.0 million, compared to $2.10 in the prior year. The Company anticipates that reported earnings from continuing operations will be in the range of approximately $1.98 to $2.10 per diluted share, compared to a loss from continuing operations of $(1.41) per diluted share in the prior year. The adjusted and reported guidance reflects an effective tax rate of 23.5 percent to 24.5 percent for fiscal 2018.

The Company continues to expect capital expenditures for fiscal year 2018 to be in the range of $60.0 million to $70.0 million, with depreciation and amortization of approximately $80.0 million to $88.0 million, and total interest expense is now expected to be approximately $26.0 million to $28.0 million.

GUIDANCE:

SpartanNash sees FY2018 EPS of $2.20-$2.32, versus the consensus of $2.25.

For earnings history and earnings-related data on SpartanNash (SPTN) click here.