Winn-Dixie Boosts EBITDA Guidance; Q3 Earnings Up

ELLIOT ZWIEBACH

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Winn-Dixie Stores here told SN yesterday it was raising its adjusted operating cash flow guidance for the year due to its ability to maintain higher gross margins and a decline in inflation.

The company said it expects EBITDA for the year to end up between $145 million and $152 million, compared with earlier guidance of $110 million to $125 million.

Dan Portnoy, chief merchandising and marketing officer, told SN the higher margins resulted from increased perishables sales, increased private-label penetration (21.8%), lower fuel costs and more favorable commodity costs.

For the fiscal third quarter, which ended April 1, adjusted EBITA rose 12.3%, to $57.5 million, including a LIFO charge of $1.2 million. Net income for the quarter climbed 10.2% to $16.6 million, with sales up 0.2% to $1.73 billion and identical-store sales up 0.2% (1.2% adjusted for the shift of Easter to this year's fourth quarter). For the 40 weeks net income jumped 66% to $30.4 million, while sales rose 1.1% to $5.6 billion and IDs rose 1%.

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