991070 Fresh Foods Reports Second Quarter ResultsOctober 26, 1999Hickory, NC - Fresh Foods, Inc. reported consolidated financial results for the quarter ended September 4, 1999. Income from continuing and discontinued operations, before non-recurring expenses, for the second 13-week period of Fresh Foods' fiscal 2000, was $864,607, compared to $1,372,897 for the quarter ended September 5, 1998. Earnings per share from continuing and discontinued operations, before non- recurring expenses, for the second quarter of the fiscal year, were $.15, versus $.23 for the second quarter of the previous fiscal year. Revenue from continuing and discontinued operations of $67,227,162 for the quarter ended September 4, 1999 was below such revenue of $77,008,391 reported for the second quarter of the prior fiscal year, which was a 15-week reporting period compared to a 13-week reporting period in the current fiscal year. The impact of the lower revenue was largely offset by higher margins in the core business of Fresh Foods. The Company recorded a net loss of $1.8 million and a net loss per share of $.31 for the second quarter of fiscal 2000. David R. Clark, Fresh Foods' president and chief operating officer, said company management “is pleased with results of the company's strategic decision to concentrate on adding higher margin core business for our Pierre operations rather than allocating time and resources to volume business that has lower margins. As a result of pursuing this objective, we can report that Pierre's core revenues were approximately 9.9% higher in the quarter ended September 4, 1999 than they were during the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal year.” Last week, Fresh Foods announced that it had finalized the sale of its Claremont Restaurant Group to a group led by Charlotte-based Carousel Capital Partners, L.P. “We are extremely pleased that this transaction has been closed,” Clark said. “The sale to Carousel Capital, along with separate dispositions of our one Bennett's restaurant and excess restaurant real estate, brings approximately $54 million in cash into Fresh Foods.” When the sale of all restaurant operations and property was announced, Clark explained that the action was “part of a strategy to maximize shareholder value.” Today he added, “Most of the net proceeds from the sale have been used to reduce debt. The remainder is on deposit with our bank pending utilization.” Through the first two quarters of fiscal 2000, Fresh Foods reported that income from continuing and discontinued operations, before non-recurring expenses, was $1,732,915, compared to $1,866,291 in the prior year's initial two quarters. Earnings per share from continuing and discontinued operations, before non-recurring expenses, were $.30, compared to $.32 in the previous year. Fresh Foods is the parent company of Pierre Foods, LLC, which owns and operates food processing facilities in Cincinnati, Ohio and Claremont, North Carolina. Pierre Foods is a leading manufacturer of fully cooked branded and private-label protein and bakery products and is the largest integrated producer of microwaveable sandwiches. It provides specialty beef, poultry, and pork products formed and portioned to meet specific customer requirements. Pierre Foods sells primarily to the foodservice market and today serves many leading national restaurant chains, a majority of primary and secondary schools, long- term healthcare facilities, military, vending, convenience store, and other niche markets.
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