RICHMOND, Va. -- Richfood Holdings here said earnings reached record levels during the third quarter ended Jan. 7.
ks -- due in part to the addition of Rotelle, a frozen food distributor that Richfood acquired last August.
Sales for the quarter rose 29.2% to $380.5 million, with sales at Richfood, the company's principal operating subsidiary, up 1.7% to $299.7 million and sales at Rotelle at a record level of $80.8 million.
For the 36-week period sales at Richfood Holdings rose 17.2% to $1.02 billion, with sales at Richfood up 1.8% to $885.4 million and sales at Rotelle up to $136.1 million.
Ed Underwood, a securities analyst with Scott & Stringfellow Investments Corp., Richmond, Va., said Richfood has not yet begun to realize all the potential synergies from Rotelle that it eventually will.
"On its own, Richfood continues to show some slight improvements in gross margins and expense control, even without any synergies from Rotelle laid on top of that, so it was a very good quarter for Richfood," Underwood said.
