Cintas Announces First-Quarter Results
Cincinnati-based Cintas Corporation reported results for its first quarter of fiscal 2009, which ended on August 31, 2008. Revenue for the quarter was $1 billion, an increase of five percent over the first quarter revenue in fiscal 2008, on a comparable workday basis. Without this workday adjustment, revenue increased 3.4 percent. Net income, which was also impacted by the lesser number of workdays, was $78.6 million, a three percent decrease from the prior year first quarter.
Scott D. Farmer, president and CEO, stated, “The current difficult economic conditions are certainly impacting our customers, causing them to respond with head count reductions and facility consolidations. When combined with the significant increases in our energy and other commodity costs, our results clearly have been impacted.” Farmer continued, “Despite these issues, our results through the first quarter are in line with our full year fiscal 2009 plan. We have continued to demonstrate the benefit of our products and services to our customers as well as new prospects, growing our top line revenue. We also continue to leverage and improve our infrastructure and gain scale in our first aid, safety and fire protection and document management segments, which has helped to offset some of the increases in external costs.”
Cintas continues to generate strong cash flow and maintains a solid balance sheet. Net cash provided by operations was $88.3 million for the first quarter and the company’s current ratio was 3.75 to 1 at August 31, 2008. The company’s debt to total capitalization remained below 30 percent despite purchasing 900,000 shares of its outstanding common stock during the quarter at a cost of $25.8 million.
As far as the company outlook, Farmer stated, “Based on our first-quarter results, we are reiterating our full-year fiscal 2009 guidance of revenue to be in the range of $4.1 to $4.2 billion and fully diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $2.22 to $2.30. While we are cautious due to current economic conditions and the potential impact from recent weather conditions, this guidance continues to be appropriate.”
About Cintas:
Cintas designs, manufactures and implements corporate identity uniform programs and provides entrance mats, restroom supplies, promotional products, first aid, safety, fire protection products and services and document management services for approximately 800,000 businesses.
For more information on Cintas, visit www.cintas.com