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Report No. : |
308402 |
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Report Date : |
23.02.2015 |
IDENTIFICATION DETAILS
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Name : |
UNIFIRST CORPORATION |
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Registered Office : |
68 Jonspin Rd., Wilmington, MA 01887 |
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Country : |
United State |
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Date of Incorporation : |
1936 |
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Legal Form : |
Public Company (NYSE = UNF) |
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Line of Business : |
Subject provides workplace uniforms and protective work wear clothing
primarily |
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No. of Employee : |
12,000 |
RATING & COMMENTS
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MIRA’s Rating : |
Ba |
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RATING |
STATUS |
PROPOSED CREDIT LINE |
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41-55 |
Ba |
Overall operation is considered normal. Capable to meet normal
commitments. |
Satisfactory |
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Status : |
Satisfactory |
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Payment Behaviour : |
No complaints |
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Litigation : |
Exist |
NOTES :
Any query related to this report can be made
on e-mail : infodept@mirainform.com
while quoting report number, name and date.
ECGC Country Risk Classification List – December 31, 2014
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Country Name |
Previous Rating (30.09.2014) |
Current Rating (31.12.2014) |
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United State |
A1a |
A1 |
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Risk Category |
ECGC
Classification |
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Insignificant |
A1 |
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Low |
A2 |
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Moderate |
B1 |
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High |
B2 |
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Very High |
C1 |
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Restricted |
C2 |
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Off-credit |
D |
UNITED STATE ECONOMIC OVERVIEW
The US has the largest and most technologically powerful economy in the world, with a per capita GDP of $49,800. In this market-oriented economy, private individuals and business firms make most of the decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and services predominantly in the private marketplace. US business firms enjoy greater flexibility than their counterparts in Western Europe and Japan in decisions to expand capital plant, to lay off surplus workers, and to develop new products. At the same time, they face higher barriers to enter their rivals' home markets than foreign firms face entering US markets. US firms are at or near the forefront in technological advances, especially in computers and in medical, aerospace, and military equipment; their advantage has narrowed since the end of World War II. The onrush of technology largely explains the gradual development of a "two-tier labor market" in which those at the bottom lack the education and the professional/technical skills of those at the top and, more and more, fail to get comparable pay raises, health insurance coverage, and other benefits. Since 1975, practically all the gains in household income have gone to the top 20% of households. Since 1996, dividends and capital gains have grown faster than wages or any other category of after-tax income. Imported oil accounts for nearly 55% of US consumption. Crude oil prices doubled between 2001 and 2006, the year home prices peaked; higher gasoline prices ate into consumers' budgets and many individuals fell behind in their mortgage payments. Oil prices climbed another 50% between 2006 and 2008, and bank foreclosures more than doubled in the same period. Besides dampening the housing market, soaring oil prices caused a drop in the value of the dollar and a deterioration in the US merchandise trade deficit, which peaked at $840 billion in 2008. The sub-prime mortgage crisis, falling home prices, investment bank failures, tight credit, and the global economic downturn pushed the United States into a recession by mid-2008. GDP contracted until the third quarter of 2009, making this the deepest and longest downturn since the Great Depression. To help stabilize financial markets, in October 2008 the US Congress established a $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The government used some of these funds to purchase equity in US banks and industrial corporations, much of which had been returned to the government by early 2011. In January 2009 the US Congress passed and President Barack OBAMA signed a bill providing an additional $787 billion fiscal stimulus to be used over 10 years - two-thirds on additional spending and one-third on tax cuts - to create jobs and to help the economy recover. In 2010 and 2011, the federal budget deficit reached nearly 9% of GDP. In 2012 the federal government reduced the growth of spending and the deficit shrank to 7.6% of GDP. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan required major shifts in national resources from civilian to military purposes and contributed to the growth of the budget deficit and public debt. Through 2011, the direct costs of the wars totaled nearly $900 billion, according to US government figures. US revenues from taxes and other sources are lower, as a percentage of GDP, than those of most other countries. In March 2010, President OBAMA signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a health insurance reform that was designed to extend coverage to an additional 32 million American citizens by 2016, through private health insurance for the general population and Medicaid for the impoverished. Total spending on health care - public plus private - rose from 9.0% of GDP in 1980 to 17.9% in 2010. In July 2010, the president signed the DODD-FRANK Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, a law designed to promote financial stability by protecting consumers from financial abuses, ending taxpayer bailouts of financial firms, dealing with troubled banks that are "too big to fail," and improving accountability and transparency in the financial system - in particular, by requiring certain financial derivatives to be traded in markets that are subject to government regulation and oversight. In December 2012, the Federal Reserve Board (Fed) announced plans to purchase $85 billion per month of mortgage-backed and Treasury securities in an effort to hold down long-term interest rates, and to keep short term rates near zero until unemployment drops below 6.5% or inflation rises above 2.5%. In late 2013, the Fed announced that it would begin scaling back long-term bond purchases to $75 billion per month in January 2014 and reduce them further as conditions warranted; the Fed, however, would keep short-term rates near zero so long as unemployment and inflation had not crossed the previously stated thresholds. Long-term problems include stagnation of wages for lower-income families, inadequate investment in deteriorating infrastructure, rapidly rising medical and pension costs of an aging population, energy shortages, and sizable current account and budget deficits.
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Source
: CIA |
UNIFIRST
CORPORATION
Address: 68 Jonspin Rd., Wilmington, MA 01887
- USA
Telephone: +1
978-658-8888
Fax: +1 978-657-5663
Website: www.unifirst.com
Corporate ID#: 042103460
State: Massachusetts
Judicial form: Public Company (NYSE = UNF)
Date incorporated: 10-24-1950
Date founded: 1936
Stock: 30,000,000
shares common at USD 0.10= par value
(14,987,371 shares issued and outstanding)
20,000,000 shares common at USD 0.10= par
value
(4,887,777 shares issued and outstanding)
2,000,000 shares preferred at USD 1=
(no share issued)
Name of manager: Ronald D. CROATTI
Business:
UniFirst Corporation provides workplace uniforms and protective work wear
clothing primarily in the United States, Canada, and Europe.
It operates through US Rental and Cleaning; Canadian Rental and
Cleaning; Manufacturing; Specialty Garments Rental and Cleaning; and First Aid
segments.
The company designs, manufactures, personalizes, rents, cleans,
delivers, and sells a range of uniforms and protective clothing, including
shirts, pants, jackets, coveralls, lab coats, smocks, and aprons; and
specialized protective wear, such as flame resistant and high visibility garments.
It also rents industrial wiping products, floor mats, facility service
products, and dry and wet mops; restroom and cleaning supplies comprising air
fresheners, paper products, and hand soaps; and other textile products.
In addition, the company provides first aid cabinet services and other
safety supplies; decontaminates and cleans work clothes, and other items that
may have been exposed to radioactive materials; and services special clean room
protective wear and facilities. Further, it offers a range of garment service
options, including full-service rental programs in which garments are cleaned
and serviced; lease programs in which garments are cleaned and maintained by
individual employees; and purchase programs to buy garments and related items directly.
The company serves automobile service centers and dealers, delivery services,
food and general merchandise retailers, food processors and service operations,
light manufacturers, maintenance facilities, restaurants, service companies,
soft and durable goods wholesalers, transportation companies, government
agencies, research and development laboratories, high technology companies, and
utilities operating nuclear reactors, as well as others who require employee
clothing for image, identification, protection, or utility purposes. UniFirst
Corporation was founded in 1936 and is based in Wilmington, Massachusetts.
Office of the Foreign
Assets Control (OFAC):
The company is not listed on the OFAC list.
The Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List is a publication of OFAC
which lists individuals and organizations with whom United States citizens and
permanent residents are prohibited from doing business.
EIN: 04-2103460
Staff: 12,000
Operations & branches:
At the headquarters, we
find
UniFirst operates more than 225 local service centers throughout the
U.S. and Canada, including the one located:
1 Unifirst Drive
Cave City, AR 72521
Shareholders:
The Company is listed with the NYSE under symbol UNF.
As of 12-31-2014, 95% of the stock was held by institutional and mutual
owners, including:
|
Royce & Associates, LLC |
14.94% |
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Royce Special Equity Fund |
10.12% |
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Vanguard Group, Inc. (The) |
6.59% |
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BlackRock Fund Advisors |
5.54% |
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Dimensional Fund Advisors LP |
4.34% |
Management:
Ronald D. CROATTI is the Chairman, President, Director and CEO.
He has been the Chairman at UniFirst Corporation since 2002 and has been
its President since 1995 and Chief Executive Officer since 1991.
Mr. Croatti has overall responsibility for the management of UniFirst
Corporation. He joined UniFirst Corporation. in 1965 and served as its Vice
Chairman of the Board since 1986 and has been its Director since 1982.
Ms. Cynthia CROATTI is Director and Treasurer.
Steven S. SINTROS is Vice President, Director and CFO
David DIFILIPPO and Bruce P. BOYNTON are Vice President.
David M. KATZ is Vice President of Sales and Marketing.
Subsidiaries
And partnership:
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UniFirst
Holdings, Inc. |
Delaware |
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UniTech
Services Group, Inc. |
California |
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UniFirst
First-Aid Corporation |
Maryland |
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UniTech
Services Canada Ltd. |
Canada |
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UniTech
Services SAS |
France |
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UniTech
Services B.V. |
Netherlands |
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UniTech
Services GmbH |
Germany |
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UniTech
Services Group Ltd. |
United
Kingdom |
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UniFirst
Canada Ltd. |
Canada |
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RC
Air LLC |
New
Hampshire |
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UONE
Corporation |
Massachusetts |
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Uniformes
de San Luis S.A. de C.V. |
Mexico |
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UniFirst
S.A. de C.V. |
Mexico |
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UniFirst
Far East Limited |
Hong
Kong |
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UniFirst
Manufacturing Corporation |
Massachusetts |
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UniFirst
Nicaragua S.A. de C.V. |
Nicaragua |
On attachment:
- 10K 2014 (fiscal year
ending 08-214)
- 1st 10Q 2015
On January 7, 2015, UniFirst Corp. announced unaudited consolidated earnings
results for first quarter ended November 29, 2014.
For the quarter, the company reported revenues of $370,361,000, income
from operations of $60,589,000, income before income taxes of $60,834,000,
provision for income taxes of $23,421,000, net income of $37,413,000 or $1.85
per diluted share, net cash provided by operating activities of $52,848,000,
capital expenditures of $17,453,000 compared to the revenues of $346,704,000,
income from operations of $55,640,000, income before income taxes of $56,356,000,
provision for income taxes of $21,894,000, net income of $34,462,000 or $1.71
per diluted share, net cash provided by operating activities of $68,642,000,
capital expenditures of $22,796,000 for the same quarter a year ago.
The company continues to believe that full year fiscal 2015 revenues
will be between $1.450 billion and $1.470 billion and that full year diluted
EPS will be between $5.75 and $6.00 per share as communicated in October 2014.
The company is cautious in outlook as a result of significant presence
in energy producing regions in the U.S. and Canada.
Banks: Bank of America
…
Legal filings & complaints:
As of today date, there are numerous legal filing pending with
the Courts.
Secured debts summary (UCC): Several