Foodservice

JP Foodservice Inc. of Columbia marked its first quarterly report as a public company with an upbeat report that showed sales up nearly 9 percent and operating earnings up 13 percent.The restaurant supply firm's performance was in line with analysts' expectations."The company has basically nailed its September quarter and December quarter projections," said Mark Allen, an analyst at Robinson Humphrey Co., an investment bank in Atlanta.Mr. Allen took note of the fact that earnings growth outpaced sales growth.

JP Foodservice, an independent food distributor, says it will shift its corporate headquarters from Anne Arundel County to Howard County early next year.The company says it has leased 31,000 square feet in Patuxent Crossing, a business park near Route 32 in Columbia, for the new headquarters.About 125 people are employed at the headquarters office, now located in Hanover. All of those employees will retain their jobs when the move occurs, the company said.Lewis Hay III, senior vice president and chief financial officer for JP Foodservice, said the site's access to major highways and BWI airport played a role in the company's move, as did county government's pro-business attitude and the county's high standard of living.

Columbia-based JP Foodservice Inc. said yesterday that it signed a contract to become a key supplier for Compass Group USA Inc., a Charlotte, N.C.-based catering firm.The three-year agreement has an estimated value of $240 million, JP said.The contract can be renewed in October 2000, JP Foodservice said.JP said that, under the agreement, it will provide food supplies to approximately 900 Compass Group locations, including its Eurest Dining Services, its Bate-man health care division, its Chartwells school division and its Canteen Vending Services.

JP Foodservice Inc. said yesterday that it has purchased Buffalo, N.Y.-based Sorrento Food Service. JP did not disclose a purchase price.The Columbia-based food distributor became the second largest restaurant supply company in the nation after its merger with Rykoff-Sexton Inc. in December. Since then, JP's operating divisions have been conducting business as U.S. Foodservice.Sorrento Food Service mainly serves western New York and western Pennsylvania markets, and had sales of about $100 million for the fiscal year that ended Dec. 31."

JP Foodservice Inc. of Columbia announced yesterday a tentative agreement to buy food service distributor Tri River Foods Inc. of Bethel Park, Pa.Terms were not disclosed, but JP said the purchase will be combination of cash and stock, pending a final purchase agreement, which is expected within 60 days, according to Lewis Hay III, JP senior vice president and chief financial officer.The acquisition is not expected to bring new jobs to Maryland, nor are any "significant changes" foreseen in the Pennsylvania operation, Mr. Hay said.

Is this a case of the purloined playbook, or simply the sincerest form of flattery?Only Jim Miller knows for sure. The 46-year-old chairman of JP Foodservice Inc. of Columbia is out to make some noise with the state's quietest billion-dollar company. After years of stumbling under the debt load of a 1989 leveraged buyout, JP Foodservice shook off much of the debt by going public in November, announced big gains in sales and operating earnings last week, and is winning backers for its plan to begin growing again.

JP Foodservice Inc. yesterday reported earnings that were at the low end of market expectations for the three months ended in December, but still represented a 43 percent profit jump on continuing operations for the restaurant and institutional food supplier.The Columbia company said its earnings rose to $3.2 million during the second quarter of its fiscal year, or 20 cents a share, up from 14 cents before a restructuring write-off in the corresponding three months of fiscal 1995. The company's fiscal year ends in June.

U.S. Foodservice Inc., the Columbia-based institutional food supplier, is expected to announce today a Web site that will handle orders from hotels, restaurants and other business customers who need kitchenware and gourmet food items.The company joins a growing list of corporations that are turning to the Internet to streamline sales and distribution, manage inventory and trim operating costs.U.S. Foodservice, which earned $83 million on $6.2 billion in sales in its last fiscal year, initially plans to offer 5,000 items on its Next Day Gourmet Web site.

The parent of Columbia-based U.S. Foodservice said yesterday that the sale of the food distributor remains on track despite the failure of a bond sale intended to help finance the deal. Dutch food company Royal Ahold, which also owns Giant Food, agreed in May to a $7.1 billion deal to sell U.S. Foodservice to private equity firms Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. On Tuesday, U.S. Foodservice postponed plans to sell $650 million in senior notes because of weak market conditions, an Ahold spokeswoman confirmed yesterday.

JP Foodservice Inc. of Columbia saw its stock jump more than 5 percent yesterday after a strong quarterly earnings report, driven by sales growth four times faster than the pace the company had predicted after going public in late 1994.JP Foodservice, a restaurant supply business that used to be part of Sara Lee Corp., said it earned $1.4 million on sales of $295.8 million during the three months that ended March 30, compared with $1.5 million in the same period last year. The quarter is the third in the company's fiscal year.