Earnings Labs

United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI)

Q1 2016 Earnings Call· Mon, Dec 7, 2015

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to the United Natural Foods First Quarter Fiscal 2016 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I’d now like to turn the conference over to Ms. Katie Turner for opening remarks. Thank you. Ms. Turner, you may now begin.

Katie Turner

Analyst

Thank you. Good afternoon. By now you should have received a copy of the first quarter fiscal year 2016 earnings press release, issued today at approximately 4:05 pm Eastern Time. The earnings press release and webcast are available under the Investor Section at the Company’s Web site at www.unfi.com. On the call today are Steve Spinner, President and Chief Executive Officer; Sean Griffin, Chief Operating Officer; and Mike Zechmeister, Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, we’d like to remind everyone that comments made by Management during today's call may contain forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements discuss plans, expectations, estimates and projections that might involve significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from the results discussed in these forward-looking statements. In addition, in today's earnings press release and during today’s call, Management will provide both, GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP financial measures include, net sales, operating income, earnings per diluted share and free cash flow. A reconciliation of these GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures can be found on the Company's investor site. And with that, I’d like to turn the call over to Steve Spinner.

Steven Spinner

Analyst

Thank you, Katie, and welcome to our call this afternoon to review our first quarter 2016 results. First, I’d like to welcome Mike Zechmeister to UNFI as our new Chief Financial Officer. Mike brings over 20 years of experience at General Mills in a wide range of responsibilities, including M&A, treasury, operations, shared services, financial planning and IT. Some of you’ve spoken with Mike already and he is planning on getting out to many of you as we participate in the upcoming Investor Conferences. I can’t think of a better time to have Mike on board than now, given the Company’s opportunities that lie ahead. Before we start talking about the market dynamics facing our industry, I think it’s important to briefly talk about what brought us to where we’re today. And as many of you know, UNFI sales grew at a compounded annual rate of almost 13% from fiscal 2005 to fiscal 2010, and 17% from fiscal 2010 to fiscal 2015. UNFI's operating income grew at a compounded annual rate of almost 10% from fiscal 2005 to fiscal 2010 and 16% from fiscal 2010 to fiscal 2015. And in fiscal 2015 or last year, our sales grew 20% and our operating profit grew 15%. During these periods of time, UNFI invested in infrastructure, enhancements to our technology platform, including a new national warehouse management system, transportation management system, and inventory planning, demand planning system, while building out what we believe to be the most efficient network of national distribution centers in North America. These investments directly resulted in vastly improved service levels to our customers. Over the same time period, fiscal 2005 to 2015 our operating expenses as a percentage of sales decreased 322 basis points. What this highlight is that significant change in evolution is part of UNFI’s…

Michael Zechmeister

Analyst

Thanks, Steve, and good afternoon, everyone. Net sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2016 were $2.08 billion, which represents growth of 4.2% or approximately $84 million over the first quarter last year. Our overall sales growth for the same period was approximately 6.8%, excluding the impact of the termination of the Safeway Albertson’s contract. Inflation moderated for the quarter as it decreased 37 basis points sequentially, coming in at 2.44 versus last quarter. From a channel perspective, super naturals net sales outpaced overall sales growth up 7.2% over the prior year’s first quarter and represented 34% of total sales. Supermarkets sales declined 3.3% in Q1 versus the prior year and landed at 25% of total sales. Adjusting for the customer contract termination, supermarket sales increased 6.3% Q1 over the prior year. Independent channel grew at 3.4% in the first quarter over the prior year and Independent’s represented almost third of our sales at 32%. And finally food service sales were up 29% over the prior year and represented 5% of sales. Gross margin for the quarter came in at 15.1% and 88 basis point decline over the prior year's first quarter. Sequentially, this was a 28 basis point decline over the fourth quarter gross margin of 15.4%. The declining versus fourth quarter and prior year’s comparable quarter was due to the impact of continued weakness in the Canadian dollar, the reduction in fuel surcharge, moderate supply of promotional activity and a shift in sales for lower margin sales channels. Our operating expenses for the quarter improved to 12.5% of net sales or 12.4% in net sales excluding the $2.8 billion in severance and other transactional costs associated with our restructuring plan. This compares to 13.1% for the same period last year. Included in our operating expenses was also $1.8…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. We will now be conducting a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Our first question is from Meredith Adler of Barclays. Please go ahead.

Meredith Adler

Analyst

Hey, guys, and hi, Mike. Nice to meet you.

Michael Zechmeister

Analyst

Hi. Thanks.

Meredith Adler

Analyst

First, I’d like to just ask you about this pipeline of acquisitions and within that I understand the third largest specialty distributor DPI was bought by private equity. Does that change the outlook for you being able to do acquisitions and what else is out there?

Steven Spinner

Analyst

Yes, hi, Meredith. It’s Steve. The DPI would not have been on our list for a variety of reasons. But there are a ton of specialty, ethnic, gourmet, fresh, fresh across probably five or six or eight different channels. And so our pipeline is really strong. We got done making the Tony’s acquisition 16 months or so ago, we feel like we’re ready to do another one. We feel that the valuations for us are still realistic and so we -- I’m extremely optimistic that we’re going to make some good progress there. But in answer to your question, I don’t think that the DPI affects us at all.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from John Heinbockel of Guggenheim. Please go ahead.

Steve Forbes

Analyst

Hi guys. It’s actually Steve Forbes on today.

Steven Spinner

Analyst

Hi, Steve.

Steve Forbes

Analyst

As it relates to gross margin in the 90 basis points of erosion during the quarter, were the four impacts you mentioned [within release] [ph] in order of magnitude? And then, I guess, if you can just touch -- which of these headwinds were the greatest relative to your original expectations in the original guidance you laid out back in August?

Steven Spinner

Analyst

Thanks, Steve. The four items listed there were not in order of magnitude. The FX was probably about 7 basis points. The fuel surcharge was probably about 15 basis points and the rest was split between the last two.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Karen Short of Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.

Karen Short

Analyst

Hi. Steve. Thanks for all the color you gave today in general just on the landscape. I guess, I kind of had a bigger picture question. So you talked about changing your strategy to focus on fresh, but I guess what I’m not clear about is when I look back on your mix of perishables and produce like going back to 2010 versus 2015, the mix really hasn’t changed that 20% of sales. So I guess my question is maybe I’m not looking at the numbers properly or maybe there has been a change in how you define different categories. But when I look at the mix by category groceries actually increased a lot from 47% to 54% and perishable produce is kind of stayed at 20%-ish, 21%, 19, 20%-ish. So I guess is there anything with that, the way you kind of categorize, what do you think perishables and produce can grow to over the next several years, because that’s obviously a big focus. Thanks.

Steven Spinner

Analyst

Yes, Karen, I’m not sure what level of detail that you’re looking at. I’m not sure whether those numbers are just broad line.

Karen Short

Analyst

It’s your presentation that you give at various, whether it’s …

Steven Spinner

Analyst

Yes, I’m not sure that those numbers, we will have to take a look at that. I’m not sure that those numbers actually include an integrated Tony’s, because our actual percentage of perishable if you include Tony’s which is 100% perishable, and so you just do the basic math of Tony’s at about $900 million embedded in our $8.5 billion. It’s going to significantly shift those numbers. So we will take a look at that. As far as where we think fresh can grow, I mean, in a dollar perspective right because the product is so much more expensive than center store, even though on a case-by-case basis, if we grow our cases in a similar way that we grow grocery, our dollars are actually going to grow three times faster. Because the average case in grocery is about $15 and the average case in fresh is probably $50, $50 to $60. And so when you look at our M&A, we will have a heavy dependency on fresh when you look at the way we roll fresh out across the country, that’s going to have a pretty big influence in each one of the DCs that we put it into. So the lion’s share of our growth over the next couple of years is going to be what we typically would call fresh or anything that’s heavily perishable.

Karen Short

Analyst

Great, okay. That’s helpful. Thanks.

Steven Spinner

Analyst

Okay.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Scott Mushkin of Wolfe Research. Please go ahead.

Scott Mushkin

Analyst

Hey, guys. I had a question and then maybe I missed it, because I was doing a couple of things, so I wanted to ask about current trends. So first off, current trends, I don’t know if you’ve made any comments on that, but I’d love to hear where things have been going lately. Then the second thing, Steve, it goes to some of what you’ve said in your presentation or in your thoughts. It seems to me that the demand for slow moving items is growing at the grocery store, even in the mass channel. It seems like you guys have the best group of assets to deliver this. Yet there is like a disconnect, so like why isn’t there, I guess, more wins, more contracts? It seems broadly speaking you have something that the food at home channel really needs. So maybe you can kind of square that too.

Steven Spinner

Analyst

Well, I mean, Scott, the first way to look at that is during the last quarter we secured in contract extensions about 43% to 45% of our business. That’s staggeringly large number that’s been keeping us pretty busy. But I think you’re 100% right. I think that we will find a way to use our infrastructure, selling it to channels that we don’t currently have a position in, regardless whether it’s specialty retailer or a mass retailer or the drug retailer, because based upon our network are closest to the consumer, that everybody could access to the SKUs, they are all very well set up to bring down direct retailer cost of goods by a significant amount, just by eliminating LTL shipment. And so that is a part of our -- what we’re looking to do long-term, and I think it will come. It’s just right now, the whole industry is evolving, and we’re not only evolving with is, but despite a rough first quarter, I think we’re better positioned than anybody to take advantage of the change. As far as the trends, yes, Scott we were at -- what we’re seeing right now is in line with the revised guidance that we presented today. And I think it’s important to note that keep in mind that our revised guidance of 3% to 5% assumes no big contract in this year, but we had it in last year. So if you were to adjust the contract, the $400 million out of both years that 3% to 5% become 7.5% to 9.5%. And so depending upon how you look at it, that’s kind of the way we’ve decided to give the guidance and the current trends are certainly well within that number.

Scott Mushkin

Analyst

Okay. But you are -- that’s, you haven’t seen any -- we’ve been hearing maybe that things have improved lately a little bit. I mean are you guys seeing that at all or not really, and then I will yield.

Steven Spinner

Analyst

We’re only one period into the second quarter. I think it will be premature to comment on that.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Rupesh Parikh of Oppenheimer. Please go ahead.

Rupesh Parikh

Analyst

Thanks for taking my question. So, Steve I wanted to go back to your comment in your -- in your prepared comments just about increasing wholesale competition and competitive pricing pressures. Is that strictly related to the Albertson’s contract loss or has something gotten worse recently?

Steven Spinner

Analyst

No, I think it’s pretty consistent with the Albertson’s termination, but we live in a different world. So we’re going to have to do what we historically have done very well and that is to bring down the cost at a rate that’s greater than the decline in the gross margin. And certainly if you look back over the last couple of years, we’re done a great job at doing that. And as I look out over the next couple of years we’re going to have to do an even better job of doing it, but have every confidence that we can. Because as I said in the commentary Rupesh, nobody’s gross margin is going up. And so our challenge is to keep it moderate -- keep the decline moderated and make sure that we can bring the cost down and be really efficient.

Rupesh Parikh

Analyst

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Mark Wiltamuth of Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Mark Wiltamuth

Analyst

Hi, Steve. I just wanted to get a little bit more on the margin commentary there. Is it -- the margins are coming down with the new contracts or is it more of a mix effect as we look as this year’s new guidance?

Steven Spinner

Analyst

Yes, I think, Mark, it’s a combination of both. I mean there’s a little bit of noise in there around the Canadian FX that’s affecting our margins, that were probably going to get to a more normalized number as we get into Q3 and Q4 because the comps are more similar. But I think it’s a combination of both. As far as the channel shift, that’s going to be lumpy. So I think directionally you’re spot on it. It’s going to be a combination of both. I don’t -- Mike, do you have anything to add on that?

Michael Zechmeister

Analyst

Yes. On the currency side we’ve got a headwind year-over-year of about 60 to 65 basis points on the top line and about 15 basis points to the gross margin.

Steven Spinner

Analyst

And the other thing I would add is, there is a cyclical nature to manufacture promotional spend. It really is at the very highest level. When sales are good there’s less promotional activity. When sales aren’t so good there’s more. I think what complicates it for us in the first quarter is that we just had so much transition in our inventory as we transitioned out the $400 million. Once we get through the second quarter we’ll be in a much more normalized state.

Mark Wiltamuth

Analyst

Okay. And just on your renewals that you announced, was any of that incrementally new in terms of sales volume and on Kroger, in particular, since you did call them out. Was there an uptick in that one versus what you were doing previously?

Michael Zechmeister

Analyst

Yes, I mean we’re not going to get into any of the specifics of any of the quantity, customer contracts. And when we’re in a position to talk about a material win you can rest assure that you guys will be the first ones to hear it.

Mark Wiltamuth

Analyst

Okay. And as we’re heading into holiday here, how is the out of stocks look?

Sean Griffin

Analyst

Actually -- excuse me, this is Sean. Actually we look very solid. We’ve delivered through Thanksgiving a very high level of service, roughly in the range of 80 basis points better than last FY ’15, Q1.

Mark Wiltamuth

Analyst

Okay. Thank you very much.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Robby Ohmes of Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Robby Ohmes

Analyst

Hi. Thanks for taking my question. Steve, I was hoping you could remind us just the profitability of the growing fresh business versus the center store business. And if you think over the next half decade, was the expectation that fresh can easily grow for you guys much faster than it pressures center store like you were, I think indicating in your earlier comments. And then, related or separately, can you also just maybe update us on the self distribution trends for the supermarket customers, any changes there? Thanks.

Steven Spinner

Analyst

Sure, Robby. The fresh profitability what drives the profitability for us in fresh [indiscernible] is delivering more to the customers that we’re already going to. And so the beauty of rolling out fresh is that we get a significant increase in our overall earnings growth and a more moderated growth in our operating margin. Because it’s a more expensive case that we might work on a lower gross margin, but the actual operating profit dollars associated with delivering that case is much higher and that’s just purely the math. And so, I think prior to us giving revised guidance for over the next three years which we’ve committed to doing before the end of this fiscal year, I would say if you look back on previous years, and some of the disclosures that we’ve given, you’ll see -- but I hope to see is an increased overall operating profit growth with a more marginal operating profit percentage growth, and that’s just the nature of selling more expensive inventory. On self distribution, I haven’t seen a lot of change in movement to self distribution. As a matter of fact we’ve had a great deal of success in moving some customers away from self distribution. I mean, if you take a look at the $785 million in contract expansion, a large percentage of those contracts have their self [ph] distribution option. And so, I think it’s something that we see as retailers having a tremendous confidence in the services that UNFI provides that they just can't do themselves.

Robby Ohmes

Analyst

Great. Thanks very much, Steve.

Steven Spinner

Analyst

Okay.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Kelly Bania of BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Kelly Bania

Analyst

Hi. Good evening. Thanks for taking my question. I was wondering if you could just elaborate on the comment on increased competitive pressure, and where you really see that and what the strategy is to kind of work through that, I guess?

Steven Spinner

Analyst

Yes. I mean -- so Kelly, I mean there is the increased competitive pressures across a pretty wide berth, right. So because so many more retailers carry the product, so the retailers themselves are competing with one another. On the supply chain side, many more wholesale distributors they’re direct et cetera, et cetera are carrying the product which is making it more competitive. And so, I think as you look at UNFI as I said earlier, our margin certainly isn’t going to go up as we renegotiate these contracts. So the challenge for us is to make the distribution system and the supply chain related to it more efficient. I think that because we’ve gone from a niche to something that’s very mainstream, I think the natural occurrence across whether it’s the retail level, or at the wholesale level, at the supply chain level it’s going to become more competitive whether it be for services or whether it be ultimately for the price of the consumer. So for us the point of differentiation is one, having the scale to be the low cost producer. Two, having the products and the data to make sure that the retailers are carrying items that are differentiated and they’re not necessarily competing for exactly the same item. And then three is the strategy to be really good at ethnic/gourmet and fresh which I think at least today are a little bit protected from the doggy-dog world of what’s the price on a box of Kellogg's cereal. So it’s differentiation in scale and service.

Kelly Bania

Analyst

Thanks. And just a follow-up on that, you talked about the size of the fresh business. Any color on the size of the ethnic/gourmet business? Right now you talked about the potential in the past, but where does that stand at the moment?

Steven Spinner

Analyst

Yes, I mean -- it’s a pretty significant opportunity for us say, because we -- I think the last calculation is we had less than 3% market share in ethnic/gourmet. In ethnic/gourmet in size and don’t hold me to this exact number, but I think it’s -- at retail it’s about $70 billion so at wholesale it’s probably, I don’t know $40 billion to $50 billion or something like that. So it’s still much more fragmented than natural and organic, much less direct. A lot of small players across the country, and so it’s just a tremendous opportunity for us and we don’t have ethnic/gourmet in every market. So we’ll do that organically, and we’ll do it through some pretty good M&A as well.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Sean Naughton of Piper Jaffray. Please go ahead.

Sean Naughton

Analyst

Hi. Good evening. So just on fuel, I think if I remember correctly it does hurt the gross margin once you called out but I think nets out at the operating income line. I guess, the first question is, first is that true. And then secondly, so how are you planning the rest of the year just in terms of some of the assumptions that you’re making in the model just around fuel FX and the outlook for inflation? Thank you.

Michael Zechmeister

Analyst

Yes, Sean, your comments were right. The fuel surcharge impacts net sales and gross margin, but then the reduction in the cost of fuel comes in at the operating margin level for us. So the 15 basis points so affected the net sales and the headwind and also gross margin. But then purchase comes from the fact that diesel is coming down, is allowing us to buy cheaper and offset that to a large extent. Looking forward, it’s hard to tell what that market is going to do, but we’re in a position to continue to capitalize on the lower fuel costs moving forward.

Steven Spinner

Analyst

Sean, I would add one other comment. This is one of those quarters where we just couldn’t get a break, because not only did we loose the fuel surcharge because the price of fuel had come down so far but for those of you who’ve followed us for a while we historically book somewhere around 30%, 40% of our fuel in a full contract or a hedge at or less than budget. And so, right now we’re facing a situation where the fuel price is now considerably lower than our both -- our both trends. So the actual rack price is lower than our hedged price and we don’t have the fuel surcharge. So we’re a little bit naked on probably 30% of our fuel which listen was the right decision and if we could plan where fuel was going we’d be in a different discussion. But that did have a fairly significant impact on us during the quarter, but it is what it is.

Sean Naughton

Analyst

Understood. And anything on the -- just how you’re planning the business on FX and what you kind of see in the business for our inflation right now? I think, Steve, you had mentioned that Tony’s is obviously, it sounded like there was a little bit deflation area in the quarter?

Steven Spinner

Analyst

Yes, I mean Tony’s we had some deflation in protein and specialty cheese. Overall I think our inflation rate is somewhat in the 2% range, 2.5%, and that’s probably going to be where it goes over the balance of the year.

Michael Zechmeister

Analyst

Yes, I think that’s right. On the FX side, as we get into February the comps from a currency standpoint get to be a little more in line with what we’re seeing today. So we expect the FX impact to minimize beginning around February.

Sean Naughton

Analyst

Okay. So you’re just kind of holding the current rate kind of where it is at this point on the Canadian dollar?

Michael Zechmeister

Analyst

Yes.

Sean Naughton

Analyst

Okay, great. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Scott Van Winkle of Canaccord. Please go ahead.

Scott Van Winkle

Analyst

Hi. Thanks. A couple of follow-ups, Steve first on all of the contract extensions you talked about, even if you exclude Whole Foods you’re talking about well over 10% of non Whole Foods business was renewed this quarter. Is there a reason why it’s happening so quickly in a short period of time? And then the second question or follow-up is; if you -- could you give us the numbers if you excluded all of your Albertson’s business this quarter would revenue growth have been 2%. Because if you look at the guidance of kind of 3% to 5%, it would look like you’re assuming a little better internal growth all normalized in your guidance than what you reported in Q1?

Steven Spinner

Analyst

Okay. Yes, Scott we’ll talk about that. So with the renewal, it really wasn’t a factor of -- that we did something to push all this to happen. I think a lot of it was just the timing was right to do it both at the customer level and at the -- on the UNFI side. Certainly there was some M&A in our customers, so they felt it was important to get a contract renewed. We’re obviously in an evolving industry. And so, I think all the parties involved wanted to ensure that they had a longer term contract. So I wouldn’t say that it was really unusual, but I think we were just very the timing was right that we were fortunate to be able to extend as many contracts as we were able to which obviously gave us a tremendous amount of comfort and confidence in a fact that so much of our customer base sees the real value in what we do. And not only in terms of what we’ve done, but what they see us doing in the future. As it relates to the revenue growth, I think Mike is going to comment on that.

Michael Zechmeister

Analyst

Yes, there was a lot going on in the quarter with the transfer of the inventory over to Safeway Albertson’s, so that was done at landed cost which was naturally a little dilutive to their earnings. But overall I would say it’s not a material impact on our margins.

Scott Van Winkle

Analyst

I was -- what was the -- do you know the -- can you give us the revenue contribution from Albertson’s in the quarter, I mean obviously impacted by the wind down. But I’m wondering how significant that was as we try to remove that from our forward estimates?

Steven Spinner

Analyst

I don’t think we know that. Certainly wasn’t material, but I think -- do we know the number without Albert in the quarter?

Michael Zechmeister

Analyst

Scott, I don’t think we have that with us.

Scott Van Winkle

Analyst

Okay. We’ll follow-up. Thank you.

Michael Zechmeister

Analyst

Follow up. Yes.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Andrew Wolf of BB&T Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Andrew Wolf

Analyst

Hello. Thanks. I missed some of the call, so you might have answered this. But I did hear you were asked about DPI, Steve. Did you get into, if not would you tell us why did you pass on it? I know they do Starbucks and some chains that maybe you’re not interested in, but was it a price discipline matter or is it more mix?

Steven Spinner

Analyst

Andy, I think it would be unfair for me to get into a lot of detail around our M&A, but like I said earlier that was not a company that was a good fit for us.

Andrew Wolf

Analyst

Okay. And then, Mike on the 15 basis points from the Canadian foreign exchange if they impact your gross margin? What a big number, $0.15 a share. Can you tell us what was that headwind last year so we can get a sense of the swing, and was that $0.15 what was in the budget or did things get worse this quarter and you had to increase that amount, the 15 basis point?

Michael Zechmeister

Analyst

Yes. So first of all the 15 basis points is a combination of constant currency, the translation part and the transactional impact. I can't speak to what we were facing at the same time last year. Although if you go back to Q1 of fiscal ’15 the Canadian dollar is about $0.90, and that was probably down a little from where it was prior year. But I can't speak to exactly what that amount was.

Steven Spinner

Analyst

Yes, I mean, I think, Andy there is really two components, that FX issues that we’re facing in Canada right now. One is the just purely translational or in other words the high percentage of products that we buy from the United States in Canada in Canadian dollars. So we’ve got a translation problem there. The second part of it is and actually being able to pass through the significantly increased prices to the largest retailers in Canada which we have not had a great deal of success doing. So that’s caused a short-term gross margin issue, because we just can't pass the pricing through fast enough.

Andrew Wolf

Analyst

Yes, okay. I understand that. But was that $0.15 or the [technical difficulty] let’s stick with your basis point. Was that what you were looking for when you set guidance? I’m just trying to understand, another way to look at your guidance, you took down sales a little than a percent, 0.9% across the range and then you took down net income -- EPS 2.5% to 3%. So like a lot other question, this question is similar, what got worked other than in terms of the deleveraging effect?

Steven Spinner

Analyst

Yes, I think there’s two -- I would answer that two ways. I think number one is, a lot of the one time issues that we had in the first quarter -- we had in the first quarter were not necessarily going to be able to make it up. So its not a matter of that things are getting worse, because we don’t think they’re getting worse, they’ll probably get better. But not better to the extent that we’re going to be able to cover some of the issues the one time events that we had in the first quarter. I think that’s the biggest reason. The second part of it is; we did have some headwind associated with FX. However that headwind to a large degree will dissipate as we get into the second quarter, just because the comps will go away.

Andrew Wolf

Analyst

Okay. That’s very spot on to the kind of question I was asking. Thank you.

Steven Spinner

Analyst

Okay.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Stephen Grambling of Goldman. Please go ahead.

Stephen Grambling

Analyst

Hi. Good afternoon. I just have one quick follow-up to Scott’s question on contract extensions. And that’s just, can your terms be overwritten by a material change of control such as acquisitions. You did mention there’s a lot of potential consolidation in the industry, I’m just trying to understand did that potentially bring up more contracts for you to bid on or even some of your contracts become at risk? Thanks.

Steven Spinner

Analyst

Honestly I don’t know the answer to that question. I think that some contracts probably do, some don’t. Our contracts to a large degree are heavily reliant on the fact that, we’re either providing value to the customer or we’re not. Most of the customers that we have did not -- all of the customers we had today are extremely focused on service level, differentiation, data, service and all of the offerings that we have. And as long as those things are good the contracts tend to get extended. And so even in the cases where there is a change in control, there’s a high degree of transparency and discussion around what happens with our distribution programs forward -- look like going forward. So I typically don’t worry about M&A and consolidation within our retailers because I think the retailers are all focused on the same things that we are. I think we had an experience last year that was extremely unusual and I’m not sure that we’ll see that again.

Stephen Grambling

Analyst

Fair enough. That’s helpful. Happy holidays.

Steven Spinner

Analyst

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our final question comes from Joe Edelstein of Stephens. Please go ahead.

Joe Edelstein

Analyst

Hi. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking the questions.

Steven Spinner

Analyst

Thanks, Joe.

Joe Edelstein

Analyst

Just two questions here for me. The first Steve, earlier you mentioned just rolling out fresh across the network and part of that I’m assuming you’re referring to Tony’s. Is the Tony’s product something that you think you’ll be able to get across the full network this year within the fiscal year?

Steven Spinner

Analyst

No, definitely not. We are going distribution-by-distribution center, and its going to take us a while. The way we’ll get fresh across the country is to acquire it. And that’s something that is important to me. I think that that’s the greatest opportunity for us to further differentiate UNFI across the country and I think M&A is going to be one of the best ways for us to do it. It may not all be in one fell swoop. We may have to buy it off a couple of pieces here, a couple of pieces there. But we have a lot of people who know how to do that and they have a lot of fresh in their background. So that’s what its going to take.

Joe Edelstein

Analyst

Okay. And I guess related to that, could you just remind us really what the company’s target debt levels are and I’d expect that, at least this year you could de-lever fairly quickly over the course of the full year and maybe that gives you some added flexibility, but just kind of the net debt ratio that you would target?

Steven Spinner

Analyst

Yes, I mean right now we’re less than two times lever, 1.65. I think we typically have a fairly conservative view of the balance sheet in debt in general. We might have run up to the high 2’s to make an acquisition and then fairly quickly pay it off and bring it back down to sub 2, I think you can see that in our historical numbers. But I think it’s highly unlikely that we’d ever go to more than three times lever.

Joe Edelstein

Analyst

That’s helpful for the reminder. And just last question if I could, to squeeze in one more. It was nice to see the operating expenses narrow and despite some of the challenges to the top line. I was just curious, how quickly you were able to go back, rework some of the distribution routes following the Safeway contract. Just trying to gauge expectations and how much improvement you’d expect going forward and really, do you think you can hold or even see some operating margin expansion, maybe not this year but in the outer years?

Sean Griffin

Analyst

Hi, Joe, this is Sean. Well actually the teams have done a terrific job coming off of the exit of Albertson’s and getting routing structures changed. But of course in the context of timing its sort of just coming on as we get into the holiday season and we’ve got many, many customers and we want to make sure that from a communication perspective that we’re giving all constituents plenty of time before we make and execute any significant changes to delivery times et cetera. But I would say that from a distribution perspective productivity and in this case, I’m thinking about throughput because certainly you’ll have benefits from the reduction in fuel expense on the transportation line that we’re looking at, we’re running in the range of 4.5% to 5% improvement throughput from a warehouse and distribution. So we’re looking very solid there.

Joe Edelstein

Analyst

Thanks for taking the questions, and good luck.

Sean Griffin

Analyst

Thank you.

Steven Spinner

Analyst

Okay.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. I would now like to turn the conference back over to management for any additional or closing comments.

Steven Spinner

Analyst

Thank you for joining us this evening. Our industry is evolving. And UNFI’s strategy experience, proven history of performance will drive long-term shareholder value. Thanks and have a great holiday.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time and thank you.