MINNEAPOLIS -- Nash Finch Co. here said sales and revenues for the 53-week fiscal year increased 30.1% to a record $4.39 billion, compared with $3.38 billion in the 52-week prior year.
ngs would have been $19.5 million, or $1.73 per share, for the year. In the prior year, the company reported net earnings of $20.0 million, or $1.82 per share.
For the 13-week fourth quarter, sales and revenues totaled a record $1.1 billion, up 17% compared with $951.9 million for the 12-week fourth quarter of the prior year. Net earnings rose 32% to $5.7 million, or 50 cents per share, compared with $4.3 million, or 39 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.
Al Flaten, president, said that in the fourth quarter, both wholesale and retail contributed to the improved sales and earnings, partly due to the extra week in 1997. However, the company faced "sluggish sales conditions" and strong competition at the independent stores it supplies as well as Nash Finch's corporate stores in most markets.
Fourth-quarter wholesale volume benefited from a full quarter of results from Super Food Services, the distribution business Nash Finch acquired from United-A.G. Cooperative last June. The military division sales also boosted sales at the wholesale level, the company said, and corporate retail sales also showed gains.
