Performance Food Limps Into the Market in IPO

Performance Food Group Co. (NYSE: PFGC) entered the market on Thursday morning in its initial public offering. The offering entailed 14.5 million shares that priced at $19, valuing the offering up to $275.5 million. This actually priced well below the expected range of $22 to $25. There is an overallotment option for an additional 2.175 million shares.

The underwriters for the offering are Credit Suisse, Barclays, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, Blackstone, BB&T, Guggenheim and Macquarie.

This is the third largest player by revenue in the growing $240 billion U.S. foodservice distribution industry, which supplies the diverse $640 billion U.S. “food-away-from-home” industry. The company markets and distributes about 150,000 food and food-related products from 68 distribution centers to over 150,000 customer locations across the United States.

Performance Food serves a diverse mix of customers, from independent and chain restaurants to schools, business and industry locations, hospitals, vending distributors, office coffee service distributors, big-box retailers and theaters. It sources its products from over 5,000 suppliers and serves as an important partner to suppliers by providing them access to its broad customer base.

Over 12,000 employees work across its three segments: Performance Foodservice, PFG Customized and Vistar.

In the filing the company described its finances as follows:

We plan to continue executing the strategies that have successfully delivered net sales, industry share, and profit growth. In the fiscal year ended June 28, 2014, we generated $13.7 billion in net sales and $286.1 million in Adjusted EBITDA, representing compound annual growth rates of 8% and 10%, respectively, since fiscal 2010. In the fiscal year ended June 28, 2014, we generated $15.5 million in net income. During the first nine months of fiscal 2015, we generated $11.3 billion in net sales and $226.1 million in Adjusted EBITDA, representing growth rates of 12% and 17%, respectively, compared to the first nine months of fiscal 2014. During the first nine months of fiscal 2015, we generated $22.3 million in net income. In calendar year 2014 we had an estimated industry share of 6.0% and our sales growth rate since calendar year 2010 is over three times the growth rate of the foodservice distribution industry in that same time frame.

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The company intends to use the net proceeds from this offering to repay its outstanding indebtedness, with any remaining balance to be used for general corporate purposes. Note that Performance Food will not receive proceeds from the sales of stock.

Shares of Performance Food were flat at $19.08 in the noon hour. So far on the day, shares have stayed within the range of $18.72 to $19.90.

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