Whole Foods reports record total sales in third quarter

Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods Market reported third-quarter earnings last week, noting that total sales increased 0.6 percent to a record $3.7 billion while comparable store sales decreased 1.9 percent.

For the 12-week quarter ending July 2, net income was $106 million, or 2.8 percent of sales; diluted earnings per share were $0.33; and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) were $293 million, or 7.9 percent of sales.

Whole Foods Market produced operating cash flow of $277 million and free cash flow of $145 million while returning $44 million in dividends to shareholders, ending the quarter with $1.5 billion of total available capital and $1 billion in total debt.

On June 16, Amazon.com and Whole Foods announced a definitive merger agreement under which Amazon will acquire Whole Foods Market for $42 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $13.7 billion, including Whole Foods’ net debt. As a result, Whole Foods did not hold a conference call to discuss the company’s third-quarter results and did not update its outlook for fiscal 2017 or longer-term targets.