Shutdown Impacts Nash Sales in Q3

MINNEAPOLIS — Nash Finch Co. here said Tuesday that the partial government shutdown last month and the ongoing impact of budget cuts through sequestration trimmed sales by about $60.2 million in the third quarter.

The company reported net income of $6 million for the 16-week period, which ended Oct. 5, vs. $14.6 million in the year-ago quarter. Total sales were up 3.5% for the quarter, to $1.56 billion, compared with year-ago results.

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“Excluding the impact of the government sequestration and shutdown, our total company sales growth would have been over 7%,” said Alec Covington, president and chief executive officer, Nash Finch.

The company said its adjusted, consolidated EBITDA for the third quarter was $31.9 million, down about 27% vs. year-ago results.

Military segment sales decreased 6.5% to $665.5 million in the third quarter compared with the prior year. Military EBITDA was down 23.4%, to $10.5 million. Excluding the impacts of the shutdown and sequestration, military sales would have been up about 1.9%, Covington said.

Read more: Spartan-Nash Finch Deal Clears FTC

Combined food distribution and retail segment sales increased 12.4% to $898 million in the third quarter vs. year-ago results, which the company attributed to shipments to new customers. EBITDA in distribution and retail was down Combined food distribution and retail segment EBITDA was down about 20%, to $20.9 million, which the company said was entirely due to the reversal of year-to-date incentive compensation accruals in the third quarter of 2012.

Nash Finch said its $1.3 billion merger with Spartan Stores is scheduled to be completed on Monday following a special meeting of Spartan shareholders. Each share of Nash Finch stock will be converted into 1.2 shares of Spartan stock. Current Nash Finch shareholders will own about 42.3% of the combined company’s stock.

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