Uniform maker Cintas says profit fell as unemployment rose

Cintas says profit fell as unemployment rose

CINCINNATI — Uniform maker Cintas Corp. said Thursday that a sagging job market dragged down its profit by nearly a third in its fiscal third-quarter.

In the three months ending Feb. 28, the company earned $49 million, or 32 cents per share. That compared with $71.8 million, or 47 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Quarterly revenue was $861.8 million, down from $908.6 million for the same quarter in 2009.

The performance beat Wall Street expectations. On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a profit of 30 cents per share on revenue of $853.6 million.

Nonetheless, Cintas shares fell 44 cents to $27.81 in after-hours trading, after advancing 28 cents to $27.79 during the regular session.

The company affirmed its previous fourth-quarter profit forecast of 30 cents to 34 cents per share. Analysts are expecting a profit of 33 cents per share.

Cintas noted that the latest quarter had one fewer work day than the third quarter of last year. When adjusting for that, the company said its revenue fell by about 4 percent from the year-ago period. That was an improvement from the 10 percent drop, year-over-year, in the prior quarter.

In a news release, CEO Scott D. Farmer noted that the company was encouraged by the slowing rate of job losses. But he noted that the recovery will remain sluggish for some time.