Nash Finch Eyes Customer 'Rationalization'

ELLIOT ZWIEBACH

MINNEAPOLIS — Nash Finch here said it plans to rationalize the customer base in its food distribution segment in 2011 as some independents have lost volume.

"We find ourselves with some customer relationships that were much larger before the recession, when the economics were very different, but now volume may be far off from where it used to be and the relationship may not be profitable," said Alec Covington, president and chief executive officer, in a conference call discussing fourth-quarter results. "In some cases we're feeling we have an unhealthy amount of risk in some relationships."

For the 12-week fourth quarter, Nash Finch said net income was $16.9 million, compared with a loss of $43.1 million a year ago, while sales fell 6.2% to $1.2 billion. Retail comparable-store sales fell 3.5%. For the year net income rose to $50.9 million, compared with $2.8 million a year ago, while sales declined 4.2% to $5 billion, and total comps fell 3.6%.