Cintas FY fourth-quarter earnings up sharply on year-ago charges and write-downs

Cintas 4Q earns up on year-ago charges

CINCINNATI — Corporate uniform supplier Cintas Corp. said Tuesday that its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings rose sharply largely due to the effects of year-ago charges for restructuring and writedowns.

For the three months ended May 31, the company had net income of $55.5 million, or 36 cents per share.

That was up from $4 million, or 3 cents per share of net income in the 2009 fiscal fourth quarter. That period included $51 million of charges from restructuring and write-downs of long-lived assets.

Revenue moved up 3.5 percent, to $909.4 million from $878.6 million a year earlier.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected 33 cents per share of earnings on revenue of $884 million.

Cintas Chief Executive Scott Farmer cast a cautious tone on the future, saying it will “take time” for the private sector job market to return to pre-recession levels.

“We will not rely on job creation for growth,” he said.

Cintas will instead focus on finding new customers and expanding its business with current clients, Farmer said.

In the 2011 fiscal year, Cintas expects earnings of between $1.50 and $1.58 on revenue of $3.55 billion to $3.75 billion.

Analysts expect $1.60 per share of earnings on 3.66 billion of revenue.

For all of the 2010 fiscal year, the company earned $215 million, or $1.40 per share, lower than the $266 million, or $1.48 per share of earnings it posted in the 2009 fiscal year.

Company shares closed up 25 cents to $25.93.