WILMINGTON, Mass., Sept. 19, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- UniFirst Corporation (NYSE:UNF) announced today that it has completed its
acquisition of Arrow Uniform for approximately $122 million. The all-cash transaction is structured as an asset acquisition, with
UniFirst acquiring substantially all of Arrow’s assets and virtually none of its liabilities.
UniFirst is a leading provider of workplace uniforms and facility service (FS) programs to businesses, large and
small, within a wide range of industries throughout the United States and Canada. Arrow Uniform (Arrow) is also a uniform and FS
service provider, headquartered in Taylor, Mich., with 12 locations and nearly 700 employees in five Midwestern states.
Ronald D. Croatti, UniFirst President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “Arrow is a high-quality organization
with a solid reputation in the marketplace and a culture based on delivering service excellence to its business customers. The
company has been a strong participant in our industry since 1937 and we’re very pleased to have them join the UniFirst family.” Mr.
Croatti added, “Through this acquisition, UniFirst further strengthens its market presence in the greater Michigan and surrounding
areas, a strong business environment for uniform and facility service programs we provide. This improved service coverage will help
us better serve existing and prospective local, regional, and national customers in this area of the country.”
UniFirst expects the Arrow acquisition to add approximately $62 to $65 million to its revenues for fiscal year
2017. UniFirst also expects the deal to be dilutive to earnings in FY 2017, partially the result of non-cash purchase accounting
charges.
Mr. Croatti continued, “Business acquisitions have historically been an integral part of UniFirst’s growth
strategy, and we’ll continue to seek out opportunities that make sense for us and meet our long-term business goals. After the
closing of the Arrow deal, we’ll still have approximately $240 million in cash on-hand and significant borrowing capacity available
under our line of credit for additional acquisitions and/or other capital allocation options.”
The company will provide more details concerning its acquisition of Arrow, as well as its overall outlook for
its next fiscal year, in its upcoming fourth-quarter earnings call.
About UniFirst Corporation
Headquartered in Wilmington, Mass., UniFirst Corporation is a North American leader in the supply and servicing of uniform and
workwear programs, as well as the delivery of facility service programs. Together with its subsidiaries, the company also provides
first aid and safety products, and manages specialized garment programs for the cleanroom and nuclear industries. UniFirst
manufactures its own branded workwear, protective clothing, and floorcare products, and with more than 225 service locations,
275,000 customer locations, and 12,000 employee Team Partners, the Company outfits more than 1.5 million workers each business day.
UniFirst is a publicly held company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol UNF and is a component of the Standard &
Poor's 600 Small Cap Index. For more information visit www.unifirst.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This public announcement contains forward looking statements that reflect the Company’s current views with respect to future events
and financial performance, including projected revenues and earnings per share. Forward looking statements contained in this public
announcement are subject to the safe harbor created by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and may be identified
by words such as “estimates,” “anticipates,” “projects,” “plans,” “expects,” “intends,” “believes,” “seeks,” “could,” “should,”
“may,” “will,” or the negative versions thereof, and similar expressions and by the context in which they are used. Such forward
looking statements are based upon our current expectations and speak only as of the date made. Such statements are highly dependent
upon a variety of risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those
reflected in such forward looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to, our ability to maintain and grow
Arrow’s customer base and enhance its operating margins, our ability to compete successfully without any significant degradation in
our margin rates, uncertainties caused by the continuing adverse worldwide economic conditions and their impact on our customers’
businesses and workforce levels, uncertainties regarding any existing or newly-discovered expenses and liabilities related to
environmental compliance and remediation, any adverse outcome of pending or future contingencies or claims, uncertainties regarding
our ability to consummate and successfully integrate acquired businesses, our ability to preserve positive labor relationships and
avoid becoming the target of corporate labor unionization campaigns that could disrupt our business, the continuing increase in
domestic healthcare costs, including the ultimate impact of the Affordable Care Act, our retention of customers and renewal of
customer contracts, uncertainties regarding the price levels of natural gas, electricity, fuel and labor, the negative effect on
our business from sharply depressed oil prices, fluctuation on our revenue and net income from our specialty garments segment, the
effect of currency fluctuations on our results of operations and financial condition, rampant criminal activity and instability in
Mexico where our principal garment manufacturing plants are located, the impact on our goodwill and intangibles that might result
from adverse financial and economic changes, our ability to properly and efficiently design, construct, implement and operate our
new customer relationship management (“CRM”) computer system, interruptions or failures of our information technology systems,
including as a result of cyber-attacks, failure to comply with other state and federal regulations that might result in penalties
or costs, seasonal and quarterly fluctuations in business levels, any loss of key management or other personnel, our
dependence on third parties to supply us with raw materials, increased costs as a result of any future changes in federal or state
laws, rules and regulations or governmental interpretation of such laws, rules and regulations, demand and prices for our products
and services, economic and other developments associated with the war on terrorism and its impact on the economy, general economic
conditions and other factors described under “Item 1A. Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended August
29, 2015 and in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to update any forward
looking statements to reflect events or circumstances arising after the date on which such statements are made.
CONTACT: Steven S. Sintros, Senior V.P. and CFO UniFirst Corporation 68 Jonspin Road Wilmington, MA 01887 Phone: 978.658.8888 Email: ssintros@unifirst.com
