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What a difference a year makes! The U.S. uniform rental industry’s three public companies’ profits are way up compared with this time last year. Sales and share values are higher, too, according to the most recent TRS Tracker.
Combining results from the companies’ most recent quarterly financial statements and comparing them with the same reports in 2009, the TRS Tracker found that profits have tripled while sales have grown about 3.1 percent. Industry observers do not believe these figures indicate a trend toward robust expansion. More likely, they reflect the doldrums of a year ago, acknowledged as the worst business conditions in decades.
The Textile Rental Services Association (TRSA) calculates the TRS Tracker for UniformMarket News when one of the three companies reports its quarterly results. This took place most recently when G&K Services (Minneapolis) announced Aug. 18 that its sales for the quarter ended July 3 had grown to about $220 million. The company’s previous quarterly statement had sales at $198 million, but the most recent report covered an additional week. Compared with last year, G&K sales for the most recent three months were up about 1 percent.
Quarterly profits leaped to $11.1 million from $2.8 million year-over-year. These were depressed in the same quarter in 2009 when the company incurred expenses from its severance with Rick Marcantonio, G&K’s former chairman. Earnings back then were also offset by reduced fixed cost absorption (due to lower revenue), higher health care costs, increases to certain reserves, and the effect of the weak Canadian dollar.
