Whole Foods Market, Inc. (WFM) has reported a 39.49 percent plunge in profit for the quarter ended Jan. 15, 2017. The company has earned $95 million, or $0.30 a share in the quarter, compared with $157 million, or $0.46 a share for the same period last year. On the other hand, adjusted net income for the quarter stood at $123 million, or $0.39 a share compared with $157 million or $0.46 a share, a year ago.
Revenue during the quarter went up marginally by 1.84 percent to $4,918 million from $4,829 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter contracted 43 basis points over the previous year period to 33.55 percent. Total expenses were 96.52 percent of quarterly revenues, up from 94.78 percent for the same period last year. That has resulted in a contraction of 174 basis points in operating margin to 3.48 percent.
Operating income for the quarter was $171 million, compared with $252 million in the previous year period.
However, the adjusted EBITDA for the quarter stood at $373 million compared with $399 million in the prior year period. At the same time, adjusted EBITDA margin contracted 68 basis points in the quarter to 7.58 percent from 8.26 percent in the last year period.
"In this increasingly competitive marketplace, we are committed to taking every step necessary to improve comps and deliver higher returns for our shareholders," said John Mackey, co-founder and chief executive officer of Whole Foods Market. "To this end, we are refining our growth strategy, refocusing our efforts on best serving our core customers, and moving faster to fully implement category management. Evolving our purchasing operating model while developing data-rich, customer-centric category management capabilities is critical to our go-forward merchandising, pricing, marketing and affinity strategies."
For the second-quarter, the company projects diluted earnings per share to be $0.06. For fiscal year 2017, Whole Foods Market expects revenue to grow at 1.50 percent. The company projects diluted earnings per share to be $1.33.
Operating cash flow improves
Whole Foods Market, Inc. has generated cash of $284 million from operating activities during the quarter, up 22.41 percent or $52 million, when compared with the last year period.
The company has spent $244 million cash to meet investing activities during the quarter as against cash outgo of $109 million in the last year period.
The company has spent $38 million cash to carry out financing activities during the quarter as against cash inflow of $319 million in the last year period.
Cash and cash equivalents stood at $350 million as on Jan. 15, 2017.
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