MINNEAPOLIS — Stock in Nash Finch here was up more than 7% Thursday after the distributor posted gains in margins and net earnings for its fiscal second quarter, and said the slow economy could spark an aggressive hunt for opportunities this quarter.
Consolidated sales at the distributor declined 5.1% to $1.15 billion for the quarter, which ended June 19. Net earnings improved 12.3% to $10.7 million as a result of debt reduction and expense control, officials said.
In a conference call discussing results, Alec Covington, chief executive officer, said the chain was seeing the ability to generate profits from improvements in the military distribution centers it acquired last year. He said the company would likely purchase three more facilities this quarter, taking advantage of low prices and local government incentives, and setting up the company for future growth.
“We’ve made the conscious decision to be aggressive in this period of time, to move faster to expand our military network, and not to be afraid to expand our business during these times,” he said. “Frankly, it is the cause of these economic times that we have the opportunity to purchase some of these assets at such compelling prices. We’re willing to do that. We’re willing to go ahead and spend the money in acquisition costs and start-up costs which are going to come at us now a little bit, a little bit more and a little bit faster than we had anticipated. But it’s all about positioning ourselves for additional future growth.”
