John Gerlach, Jr.
Management
Good morning and thank you as well for joining us. Our fiscal 2014 got off to a sluggish start, with first quarter sales down 2%; operating income, net income and earnings per share all down 7% from last year’s first quarter. Sales declined in both segments, while operating income was off only in our Specialty Food segment. During the quarter, we invested $2 million in capital projects and repurchased approximately 40,000 shares for about $3 million. A variety of factors impacted our performance, so let me start with our Glassware and Candle segment, now consisting of Candles only. Segment sales are off just over 10%, impacted by generally soft demand, certain seasonal business did not repeat this year, and a noticeable decline in our OEM business. Operating income actually improved slightly, with a little over wax costs and a stronger sales mix. Moving to our food business, sales were down just fractionally. Volume was up modestly, all from our food service channel, as retail volumes were flat. Our retail sales mix declined from 51% to 49% for the quarter. The food service channel benefited from new programs with existing customers and generally stronger demand, offset by low six figure price deflation. While our retail volumes were flat, increased trade spending resulted in lower sales dollars. The increased promotional spending included more support for added distribution of our simply-dressed refrigerated salad dressing line, which reached about 60% ACV and more support for Croutons, now that we have added capacity available. We also spent more promotional dollars to support our New York Brand Garlic Breads in a very competitive category that is not growing. Additionally, we saw some seasonal sales that fell into the first quarter last year get pushed to the second quarter this year. We also saw decline in our private label retail business that was impacted by reduced promotional plans by our customers. Here’s our key category brand performance from IRI for the 12 weeks ended October 6. In the refrigerated dressing, the category was up 5.3%. Our Marzetti and Simply Dressed brands, principally led by our Simply Dressed growth was up 16.7%. Croutons, where the category was up 1.1%; our New York Texas Toast Croutons were up 0.5%. Veggie Dips, the category was down 3.1%; our Marzetti and Otria brands were down 5%. Garlic bread, the category was down 3.9%, our New York brand was down 1.8%, and finally Dinner Rolls, the category was down 1.9% and our Sister Schubert brand was down 1.6%. We continue to be the leader in all five of these categories. Operating income for the segment was impacted by the mix shift of the food service into higher promotional spending. Material costs were relatively flat to last year, with soybean oil and sweetener savings being offset by increases in flour, dairy and packaging. Let me now ask John to make a few comments.