Performance Food Group Co - Annual Report: 2019 (Form 10-K)

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

Form 10-K

(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended June 29, 2019

For the transition period from                      to                     

Commission File Number 001-37578

Performance Food Group Company

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

At December 28, 2018, the last business day of the Registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, the aggregate market value of common stock held by non-affiliates was $3,244,396,698 (based on the closing sale price of common stock on such date on the New York Stock Exchange).

105,199,769 shares of common stock were outstanding as of August 6, 2019.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the Registrant’s definitive proxy statement to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to Schedule 14A relating to the Registrant’s Annual Meeting of Stockholders, to be held on November 13, 2019, are incorporated by reference in response to Items 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 of Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The definitive proxy statement will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission not later than 120 days after the Registrant’s fiscal year ended June 29, 2019.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

In addition to historical information, this Annual Report on Form 10-K (this “Form 10-K”) may contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), which are subject to the “safe harbor” created by those sections. All statements, other than statements of historical facts included in this Form 10-K, including statements concerning our plans, objectives, goals, beliefs, business strategies, future events, business conditions, our results of operations, financial position, our business outlook, business trends and other information, and our proposed acquisition of Reinhart Foodservice, L.L.C. (the “Reinhart Transaction”) may be forward-looking statements. Words such as “estimates,” “expects,” “contemplates,” “will,” “anticipates,” “projects,” “plans,” “intends,” “believes,” “forecasts,” “may,” “should” and variations of such words or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts, and are based upon our current expectations, beliefs, estimates and projections, and various assumptions, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and beyond our control. Our expectations, beliefs, estimates and projections are expressed in good faith and we believe there is a reasonable basis for them. However, there can be no assurance that management’s expectations, beliefs, estimates and projections will result or be achieved and actual results may vary materially from what is expressed in or indicated by the forward-looking statements.

There are a number of risks, uncertainties and other important factors, many of which are beyond our control, that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this Form 10-K. Such risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ include, among others, the risks, uncertainties and factors set forth under Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors in this Form 10-K, as such risk factors may be updated from time to time in our periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), and are accessible on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov, and also include the following:

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We caution you that the risks, uncertainties and other factors referenced above may not contain all of the risks, uncertainties and other factors that are important to you. In addition, we cannot assure you that we will realize the results, benefits or developments that we expect or anticipate or, even if substantially realized, that they will result in the consequences or affect us or our business in the way expected. There can be no assurance that (i) we have correctly measured or identified all of the factors affecting our business or the extent of these factors’ likely impact, (ii) the available information with respect to these factors on which such analysis is based is complete or accurate, (iii) such analysis is correct or (iv) our strategy, which is based in part on this analysis, will be successful. All forward-looking statements in this Form 10-K apply only as of the date of this Form 10-K report or as of the date they were made and, except as required by applicable law, we undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

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PART I

Item 1. Business

Performance Food Group Company (“we,” “our,” “us,” “the Company,” or “PFG”), through its subsidiaries, markets and distributes more than 160,000 food and food-related products from 83 distribution centers to over 170,000 customer locations across the United States. Our more than 18,000 employees serve a diverse mix of customers, from independent and chain restaurants to schools, business and industry locations, hospitals, vending distributors, office coffee service distributors, retailers, convenience stores, and theaters. We source our products from over 5,000 suppliers and serve as an important partner to our suppliers by providing them access to our broad customer base. In addition to the products we offer to our customers, we provide value-added services by allowing our customers to benefit from our industry knowledge, scale, and expertise in the areas of product selection and procurement, menu development, and operational strategy.

In the first quarter of fiscal 2019, the Company changed its operating segments to reflect the manner in which the chief operating decision maker (“CODM”) manages the business. Based on changes to the Company’s organization structure and how the Company’s CODM reviews operating results and makes decisions about resource allocation, the Company now has two reportable segments: Foodservice and Vistar. Additionally, consistent with how the Company’s CODM assesses performance of the segments, certain administrative costs and corporate allocations, previously reported at the segment level, are now included within Corporate & All Other, as opposed to the Foodservice segment.

On June 30, 2019, we entered into a Membership Interest Purchase Agreement to acquire Reinhart Foodservice, L.L.C. (“Reinhart”) from Reyes Holdings, L.L.C. in a transaction valued at $2.0 billion, or approximately $1.7 billion net of an estimated tax benefit to PFG of approximately $265 million.  The closing of the contemplated transaction is subject to customary conditions, including the receipt of required regulatory approvals.    The $2.0 billion purchase price is expected to be financed with borrowing under the Amended Credit Agreement (as defined below under “- Financing Activities”), net proceeds from new senior unsecured notes and net proceeds from an offering of shares of the Company’s common stock, subject to market conditions, of $300 million to $400 million.

Performance Food Group Company was incorporated under the laws of the state of Delaware on September 23, 2002.

Customers and Marketing

We serve different types of customers through each of our two reportable segments. Our Foodservice segment markets and distributes food and food-related products to independent restaurants, chain restaurants, and other institutional “food-away-from-home” locations. Our Vistar segment distributes to vending and office coffee service distributors, retailers, theaters, convenience stores, and hospitality providers, among others. We believe that customers select a distributor based on breadth of product offerings, consistent product quality, timely and accurate delivery of orders, value-added services, and price. In addition, we believe that some of our larger independent and chain customers gain operational efficiencies by dealing with a limited number of foodservice distributors. No single customer accounted for more than 10% of our total net sales for fiscal 2019, fiscal 2018 or fiscal 2017.

Independent Customers. Our Foodservice segment serves our independent customers, which predominantly include family dining, bar and grill, pizza and Italian, and fast casual restaurants. We seek to increase the mix of our total sales to independent customers because they typically generate higher gross profit per case that more than offsets the generally higher supply chain costs that we incur in serving these customers. Independent customers use more value-added services, particularly in the areas of product selection and procurement, market trends, menu development, and operational strategy. In addition, independent customers also use more of our proprietary-branded products (“Performance Brands”), which are our highest margin products. Our Foodservice segment supports sales to independent customers with a team of sales and marketing representatives, customer service representatives, and product specialists. Our sales representatives serve customers in person, by telephone, and through the internet, accepting and processing orders, reviewing inventory and account balances, disseminating new product information, and providing business assistance and advice where appropriate. These representatives typically use the latest technology to assist customers by entering orders, checking product availability, and pricing and developing menu-planning ideas on a real-time basis.

Chain Customers. Our Foodservice segment also serves chain customers. Chain customers are multi-unit restaurants with five or more locations and include fine dining, family and casual dining, fast casual, and quick serve restaurants, as well as hotels, healthcare facilities, and other multi-unit institutional customers. Our Foodservice segment chain customers include regional businesses requiring short-haul routes, such as various locations of Blaze Pizza, Wingstop, Chuy’s, Marco’s Pizza, Mellow Mushroom, Pollo Tropical, Shake Shack, Subway, Zaxby’s and many others. The Foodservice segment also services national businesses requiring long-haul routes, including many of the most recognizable family and casual dining restaurant chains such as Cracker Barrel, Red Lobster, TGI Friday’s, Outback Steakhouse, O’Charley’s, Chili’s, and Ruby Tuesday. Foodservice also serves fast casual chains such as PDQ. Sales to chain customers are typically lower gross margin but have larger deliveries than those to independent customers. Dedicated account representatives are responsible for managing the overall chain customer relationship, including ensuring complete order fulfillment

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and customer satisfaction. Members of senior management assist in identifying potential new chain customers and managing long-term account relationships.

Vistar Customers. Our Vistar segment distributes candy, snacks, beverages, cigarettes, other tobacco products, health & beauty and other products to a number of distinct channels. Vending operators comprise Vistar’s largest channel. We distribute a broad selection of vending machine products to the operators’ depots, from which they distribute products and stock machines. We are a leading distributor of these products to theater chains, and Vistar’s customers include AMC, Cinemark, Galaxy Theaters, Regal Cinemas, and others. We typically deliver our orders directly to individual theater locations. We are a leading distributor to the office coffee service channel. Vistar also distributes to retailers, particularly for candy, snack, and beverage purchases in impulse buying locations. Our customers include retailers such as Dollar Tree, Home Depot, Staples, and others. Vistar distributes to other channels with a heavy concentration of candy, snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and other tobacco products, including convenience stores, hospitality providers, concessionaires, college book stores, hotel and airport gift shops, corrections facilities, and others. The distribution model also includes a “pick and pack” capability, which utilizes third-party carriers and Vistar’s SKU variety to sell to customers whose order sizes are too small to be served effectively by our delivery network. Vistar also operates Merchant’s Marts locations, which are cash-and-carry operators where customers generally pick up orders rather than having them delivered.

Products and Services

We distribute more than 160,000 food and food-related products. These products include a full line of frozen foods, such as meats, fully prepared appetizers and entrees, fruits, vegetables, and desserts; a full line of canned and dry foods; fresh meats; dairy products; beverage products; imported specialties; fresh produce; and candy, snack, and other products. We also supply a wide variety of non-food items including paper products such as pizza boxes, disposable napkins, plates and cups; tableware such as china and silverware; cookware such as pots, pans, and utensils; restaurant and kitchen equipment and supplies; cigarettes and other tobacco products; and cleaning supplies. We also provide our customers with value-added services, as described below, in the normal course of providing full-service distribution services.

Performance Brands. We offer our customers an extensive line of proprietary-branded products. We provide umbrella brands for our broadline distribution operation. Ridgecrest provides discerning chefs with the one of the highest levels of quality and consistency. West Creek provides a level of quality, consistency, and value that we believe meets or exceeds national brand offerings. Silver Source provides core products that are value priced while satisfying customers’ specifications. We also have a number of specialty brands, such as Braveheart 100% Black Angus beef, Empire’s Treasure seafood, Brilliance premium shortenings and oils, Heritage Ovens baked goods, Village Garden salad dressings, Guest House premium teas and cocoas, Peak Fresh Produce, Allegiance Premium Pork, Ascend Beverages, and others. We also have an extensive line of products for use in the pizzeria and Italian restaurant business under the names Piancone, Roma, Assoluti, and others. We believe that these products are a major source of competitive advantage. We intend to continue to enhance our product offerings based on supplier advice, customer preferences, and data analysis using our data warehouse. Our Performance Brands enable us to offer customers an alternative to comparable national brands across a wide range of products and price points, which we believe also promotes customer loyalty. Our Performance Brands products are manufactured for us according to specifications that have been developed by our quality assurance team. In addition, our quality assurance team certifies the manufacturing and processing plants where these products are packaged, enforces our quality control standards, and identifies supply sources that satisfy our requirements.

National Brands. We offer our customers a broad selection of national brand products. We believe that these brands are attractive to chain, independent, and other customers seeking recognized national brands in their operations. We believe that distributing national brands has strengthened our relationships with many national suppliers who provide us with important sales and marketing support. These sales complement sales of our Performance Brand products.

Customer Brands. Some of our chain customers, particularly those with national distribution, develop exclusive SKU specifications directly with suppliers and brand these SKUs. We purchase these SKUs directly from suppliers and receive them into our distribution centers, where they are mixed with other SKUs and delivered to the chain customers’ locations.

Value-Added Services. We believe that prompt and accurate delivery of orders, close contact with customers, and the ability to provide a full array of products and services to assist customers in their foodservice operations are of primary importance in foodservice distribution. Our operating companies offer multiple deliveries per week to certain customer locations and have the capability of delivering special orders on short notice. Through our sales and marketing representatives and support staff, we monitor the needs of our customers and acquaint them with new products and services. Our operating companies also provide ancillary services relating to foodservice distribution, such as providing customers with electronic order-taking, payment, and other internet based services, various reports and other data, menu planning advice, food safety training, and assistance in inventory control, as well as access to various third-party services designed to add value to our customers’ businesses.

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Refer to Note 19. Segment Information of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 – “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” (“Item 8”) for the sales mix for the Company’s principal product and service categories for each of the last three fiscal years.

Suppliers

We purchase from over 5,000 suppliers, none of which accounted for more than 5% of our aggregate purchases in fiscal 2019, fiscal 2018 or fiscal 2017. Many of our suppliers provide products to both reportable segments, while others sell to only one segment. Our supplier base consists principally of large corporations that sell their national brands, our Performance Brands, and sometimes both. We also buy from smaller suppliers, particularly on a regional basis, and particularly those that specialize in produce and other perishable commodities. Many of our suppliers provide sales material and sales call support for the products that we purchase.

Pricing

Our pricing to customers is either set by contract with the customer or is priced at the time of order. If the price is by contract, then it is either based on a percentage markup over cost or a fixed markup per unit, and the unit may be expressed either in cases or pounds of product. If the pricing is set at time of order, the pricing is agreed to between our sales associate and the customer and is typically based on a product cost that fluctuates weekly or more frequently.

If contracts are based on a fixed markup per unit or pound, then our customers bear the risk of cost fluctuations during the contract life. In the case of a fixed markup percentage, we typically bear the risk of cost deflation or the benefit of cost inflation. If pricing is set at the time of order, we have the current cost of goods in our inventory and typically pass cost increases or decreases to our customers. We generally do not lock in or otherwise hedge commodity costs or other costs of goods sold except within certain customer contracts where the customer bears the risk of cost fluctuation. We believe that our pricing mechanisms provide us with significant insulation from fluctuations in the cost of goods that we sell. Our inventory turns, on average, approximately every three-and-a-half weeks, which further protects us from cost fluctuations.

We seek to minimize the effect of higher diesel fuel costs both by reducing fuel usage and by taking action to offset higher fuel prices. We reduce usage by designing more efficient truck routes and by increasing miles per gallon through on-board computers that monitor and adjust idling time and maximum speeds and through other technologies. In our Foodservice and Vistar segments, we seek to manage fuel prices through diesel fuel surcharges to our customers and through the use of costless collars. As of June 29, 2019, we had collars in place for approximately 18% of the gallons we expect to use over the 12 months following June 29, 2019. These fuel collars do not qualify for hedge accounting treatment for reasons discussed in Note 9. Derivatives and Hedging Activities of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 8. Therefore, these collars are recorded at fair value as either an asset or liability on the balance sheet. Any changes in fair value are recorded in the period of the change as unrealized gains or losses on fuel hedging instruments.

Competition

The foodservice distribution industry is highly competitive. Certain of our competitors have greater financial and other resources than we do. Furthermore, there are two larger broadline distributors, Sysco and US Foods, with national footprints. In addition, there are numerous regional, local, and specialty distributors. These smaller distributors often align themselves with other smaller distributors through purchasing cooperatives and marketing groups to enhance their geographic reach, private label offerings, overall purchasing power, cost efficiencies and to assemble delivery networks for national or multi-regional distribution. We often do not have exclusive service agreements with our customers and our customers may switch to other distributors if those distributors can offer lower prices, differentiated products, or customer service that is perceived to be superior. We believe that most purchasing decisions in the foodservice business are based on the quality and price of the product and a distributor’s ability to fill orders completely and accurately and to provide timely deliveries.

We believe we have a competitive advantage over regional and local broadline distributors through economies of scale in purchasing and procurement, which allow us to offer a broad variety of products (including our proprietary Performance Brands) at competitive prices to our customers. Our customers benefit from our ability to provide them with extensive geographic coverage as they continue to grow. We believe we also benefit from supply chain efficiency, including a growing inbound logistics backhaul network that uses our collective distribution network to deliver inbound products across business segments; best practices in warehousing, transportation, and risk management; the ability to benefit from the scale of our purchases of items not for resale, such as trucks, construction materials, insurance, banking relationships, healthcare, and material handling equipment; and the ability to optimize our networks so that customers are served from the most efficient distribution centers, which minimizes the cost of delivery.

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We believe these efficiencies and economies of scale will provide opportunities for improvements in our operating margins when combined with incremental fixed-cost advantage.

Seasonality

Historically, the food-away-from-home and foodservice distribution industries are seasonal, with lower profit in the first and third quarters of each calendar year. Consequently, we typically experience lower operating profit during our first and third fiscal quarters, depending on the timing of acquisitions, if any.

Trademarks and Trade Names

We have numerous trademarks and trade names that are of significant importance, including West Creek, Silver Source, Braveheart 100% Black Angus, Empire’s Treasure, Brilliance, Heritage Ovens, Village Garden, Guest House, Piancone, Luigi’s, Ultimo, Corazo, Assoluti, Peak Fresh Produce, Roma, First Mark, Nature’s Best Dairy and Liberty. Although in the aggregate these trademark and trade names are material to our results of operations, we believe the loss of a trademark or trade name individually would not have a material adverse effect on our results of operations. The Company does not have any material patents or licenses.

Employees

As of June 29, 2019, we had more than 18,000 full-time employees. As of June 29, 2019, unions represented approximately 1,000 of our employees. We have entered into 13 collective bargaining and similar agreements with respect to our unionized employees. We believe that we have good relations with both union and non-union employees and we strive to be well regarded in the communities in which we operate. We have not had any material work stoppages or lockouts in the last five years. Our agreements with our union employees expire at various times through 2025.

Regulation

Our operations are subject to regulation by state and local health departments, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (the “USDA”), and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (the “FDA”), which generally impose standards for product quality and sanitation and are responsible for the administration of bioterrorism legislation affecting the foodservice industry. These government authorities regulate, among other things, the processing, packaging, storage, distribution, advertising, and labeling of our products. In 2010, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (the “FSMA”) was enacted. The FSMA requires that the FDA impose comprehensive, prevention-based controls across the food supply chain, further regulates food products imported into the United States, and provides the FDA with mandatory recall authority. The FSMA requires the FDA to undertake numerous rulemakings and to issue numerous guidance documents, as well as reports, plans, standards, notices, and other tasks. As a result, implementation of the legislation is ongoing and likely to take several years. Our seafood operations are also specifically regulated by federal and state laws, including those administered by the National Marine Fisheries Service, established for the preservation of certain species of marine life, including fish and shellfish. Our processing and distribution facilities must be registered with the FDA biennially and are subject to periodic government agency inspections. State and/or federal authorities generally inspect our facilities at least annually. The Federal Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act, which specifies standards for the sale, shipment, inspection, and rejection of agricultural products, governs our relationships with our fresh food suppliers with respect to the grading and commercial acceptance of product shipments. We are also subject to regulation by state authorities for the accuracy of our weighing and measuring devices. Our suppliers are also subject to similar regulatory requirements and oversight.

The failure to comply with applicable regulatory requirements could result in, among other things, administrative, civil, or criminal penalties or fines, mandatory or voluntary product recalls, warning or untitled letters, cease and desist orders against operations that are not in compliance, closure of facilities or operations, the loss, revocation, or modification of any existing licenses, permits, registrations, or approvals, or the failure to obtain additional licenses, permits, registrations, or approvals in new jurisdictions where we intend to do business, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations. These laws and regulations may change in the future and we may incur material costs in our efforts to comply with current or future laws and regulations or in any required product recalls.

Our operations are subject to a variety of federal, state, and local laws and other requirements, including, employment practice standards for workers set by the U.S. Department of Labor, and relating to the protection of the environment and the safety and health of personnel and the public. These include requirements regarding the use, storage, and disposal of solid and hazardous materials and petroleum products, including food processing wastes, the discharge of pollutants into the air and water, and worker safety and health practices and procedures. In order to comply with environmental, health, and safety requirements, we may be required to spend money

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to monitor, maintain, upgrade, or replace our equipment; plan for certain contingencies; acquire or maintain environmental permits; file periodic reports with regulatory authorities; or investigate and clean up contamination. We operate and maintain vehicle fleets, and some of our distribution centers have regulated underground and aboveground storage tanks for diesel fuel and other petroleum products. Some jurisdictions in which we operate have laws that affect the composition and operation of our truck fleet, such as limits on diesel emissions and engine idling. A number of our facilities have ammonia- or freon-based refrigeration systems, which could cause injury or environmental damage if accidentally released, and many of our distribution centers have propane or battery powered forklifts. Proposed or recently enacted legal requirements, such as those requiring the phase-out of certain ozone-depleting substances and proposals for the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, may require us to upgrade or replace equipment, or may increase our transportation or other operating costs. To date, our cost of compliance with environmental, health, and safety requirements has not been material. The discovery of contamination for which we are responsible, any accidental release of regulated materials, the enactment of new laws and regulations, or changes in how existing requirements are enforced could require us to incur additional costs or subject us to unexpected liabilities, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

The Surface Transportation Board and the Federal Highway Administration regulate our trucking operations. In addition, interstate motor carrier operations are subject to safety requirements prescribed in the U.S. Department of Transportation and other relevant federal and state agencies. Such matters as weight and dimension of equipment are also subject to federal and state regulations. We believe that we are in substantial compliance with applicable regulatory requirements relating to our motor carrier operations. Failure to comply with the applicable motor carrier regulations could result in substantial fines or revocation of our operating permits.

Our Segments

Foodservice. The Foodservice segment markets and distributes food and food-related products to independent restaurants, chain restaurants, and other institutional “food-away-from-home” locations. Foodservice offers a “broad line” of products, including custom-cut meat and seafood, as well as products that are specific to our customers’ menu requirements. Foodservice operates a network of 48 distribution centers, each of which is run by a business team who understands the local markets and the needs of its particular customers and who is empowered to make decisions on how best to serve them. This segment serves over 100,000 customer locations with over 130,000 food and food-related products.

We offer our customers a broad product assortment that ranges from “center-of-the-plate” items (such as beef, pork, poultry, and seafood), frozen foods, refrigerated products, and dry groceries to disposables, cleaning and kitchen supplies, and related products used by our customers. In addition to the products we offer, we provide value-added services by enabling our customers to benefit from our industry knowledge, scale, and expertise in the areas of product selection and procurement, menu development, and operational strategy.

We classify our customers under two major categories: independent and multi-unit “Chain.” Chain customers are multi-unit restaurants with five or more locations, which include fine dining, family and casual dining, fast casual, and quick serve restaurants, as well as hotels, healthcare facilities, and other multi-unit institutional customers. Independent customers utilize more of our value-added services, particularly in the areas of product selection and procurement, market trends, menu development, and operational strategy. Independent customer purchases typically generate greater gross profit per case compared to sales to Chain customers.

Additionally, Foodservice is a leading national distributor to the family and casual dining channel, with distribution centers that provide tailored supply chain solutions to our customers. Our network of national distribution centers was developed around our customers and is strategically positioned to provide an efficient supply chain across both inbound and outbound logistics. We serve many of the most recognizable family and casual dining restaurant chains, including Cracker Barrel, Red Lobster, TGI Friday’s, Outback Steakhouse, O’Charley’s, Chili’s, and Ruby Tuesday.

Our products consist of Performance Brands, as well as nationally-branded products and products bearing our customers’ brands. Our Performance Brands typically generate higher gross profit per case than other brands.

Vistar. Vistar is a leading national distributor of candy, snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and other tobacco products to vending and office coffee service distributors, retailers, theaters, convenience stores, and hospitality providers. The segment provides national distribution of approximately 30,000 different SKUs of candy, snacks, beverages, and other items to over 70,000 customer locations from our network of 35 Vistar OpCos and 6 Merchant’s Marts locations. Merchant’s Marts are cash-and-carry operators where customers generally pick up orders rather than having them delivered. Vistar’s scale in these channels enhances our ability to procure a broad variety of products for our customers. Vistar OpCos deliver to vending and office coffee service distributors and directly to most theaters and some other locations. The distribution model also includes a “pick and pack” capability, which utilizes third-party carriers and Vistar’s SKU variety to sell to customers whose order sizes are too small to be served effectively by our delivery network.

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We believe these capabilities, in conjunction with the breadth of our inventory, are differentiating and allow us to serve many distinct customer types. Vistar has successfully built upon our national platform to broaden the channels we serve to include hospitality venues, concessionaires, airport gift shops, college book stores, corrections facilities, and impulse locations in big box retailers such as Home Depot, Dollar Tree, Staples, and others.

Refer to Note 19. Segment Information of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 8 for financial information about our segments.

Available Information

We file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. Our filings with the SEC are available to the public on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Those filings are also available to the public on, or accessible through, our website for free via the “Investors” section at www.pfgc.com. The information we file with the SEC or contained on or accessible through our corporate website or any other website that we may maintain is not incorporated by reference herein and is not part of this Form 10-K.

Website and Social Media Disclosure

We use our website (www.pfgc.com) and our corporate Facebook account as channels of distribution of company information. The information we post through these channels may be deemed material. Accordingly, investors should monitor these channels, in addition to following our press releases, SEC filings and public conference calls and webcasts. In addition, you may automatically receive e-mail alerts and other information about PFG when you enroll your e-mail address by visiting the “Email Alerts” section of our website at investors.pfgc.com. The contents of our website and social media channels are not, however, a part of this Form 10-K.

Item 1A. Risk Factors

Risks Relating to Our Business and Industry

Competition in our industry is intense, and we may not be able to compete successfully.

The foodservice distribution industry is highly competitive. Certain of our competitors have greater financial and other resources than we do. Furthermore, there are two larger broadline distributors, Sysco and US Foods, with national footprints. In addition, there are numerous regional, local, and specialty distributors. These smaller distributors often align themselves with other smaller distributors through purchasing cooperatives and marketing groups to enhance their geographic reach, private label offerings, overall purchasing power, cost efficiencies and to assemble delivery networks for national or multi-regional distribution. We often do not have exclusive service agreements with our customers and our customers may switch to other distributors if those distributors can offer lower prices, differentiated products, or customer service that is perceived to be superior. We believe that most purchasing decisions in the foodservice business are based on the quality and price of the product and a distributor’s ability to fill orders completely and accurately and provide timely deliveries. We cannot assure you that our current or potential competitors will not provide products or services that are comparable or superior to those provided by us or adapt more quickly than we do to evolving trends or changing market requirements. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that we will be able to compete effectively against current and future competitors, and increased competition may result in price reductions, reduced gross margins, and loss of market share, any of which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

We operate in a low margin industry, which could increase the volatility of our results of operations.

Similar to other resale-based industries, the distribution industry is characterized by relatively low profit margins. These low profit margins tend to increase the volatility of our reported net income since any decline in our net sales or increase in our costs that is small relative to our total net sales or costs may have a large impact on our net income.

Cost inflation or deflation could affect the value of our inventory and our financial results.

We make a significant portion of our sales at prices that are based on the cost of products we sell plus a percentage markup. As a result, volatile food costs may have a direct impact upon our profitability. Our profit levels may be negatively affected during periods of product cost deflation, even though our gross profit percentage may remain relatively constant or even increase. Prolonged periods of product cost inflation also may have a negative impact on our profit margins and earnings to the extent such product cost increases are not passed on to customers because of their resistance to higher prices. Furthermore, our business model requires us to maintain an inventory of products, and changes in price levels between the time that we acquire inventory from our suppliers and the time we sell

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the inventory to our customers could lead to unexpected shifts in demand for our products or could require us to sell inventory at lesser profit or a loss. In addition, product cost inflation may negatively affect consumer discretionary spending decisions within our customers’ establishments, which could impact our sales. Our inability to quickly respond to inflationary and deflationary cost pressures could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

Many of our customers are not obligated to continue purchasing products from us.

Many of our customers buy from us pursuant to individual purchase orders, and we often do not enter into long-term agreements with these customers. Because such customers are not obligated to continue purchasing products from us, we cannot assure you that the volume and/or number of our customers’ purchase orders will remain constant or increase or that we will be able to maintain our existing customer base. Significant decreases in the volume and/or number of our customers’ purchase orders or our inability to retain or grow our current customer base may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

Group purchasing organizations may become more active in our industry and increase their efforts to add our customers as members of these organizations.

Some of our customers, particularly our larger customers, purchase their products from us through group purchasing organizations (“GPOs”) in an effort to lower the prices paid by these customers on their foodservice orders, and we have experienced some pricing pressure from these purchasers. These GPOs have also made efforts to include smaller, independent restaurants. If these GPOs are able to add a significant number of our customers as members, we may be forced to lower the prices we charge these customers in order to retain their business, which would negatively affect our business, financial condition, or results of operations. Additionally, if we are unable or unwilling to lower the prices we charge for our products to a level that is satisfactory to the GPOs, we may lose the business of those of our customers that are members of these organizations, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, or results of operations

Changes in consumer eating habits could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

Changes in consumer eating habits (such as a decline in consuming food away from home, a decline in portion sizes, or a shift in preferences toward restaurants that are not our customers) could reduce demand for our products. Consumer eating habits could be affected by a number of factors, including changes in attitudes regarding diet and health or new information regarding the health effects of consuming certain foods. If consumer eating habits change significantly, we may be required to modify or discontinue sales of certain items in our product portfolio, and we may experience higher costs associated with the implementation of those changes. Changing consumer eating habits may reduce the frequency with which consumers purchase meals outside of the home. Additionally, changes in consumer eating habits may result in the enactment of laws and regulations that affect the ingredients and nutritional content of our food products, or laws and regulations requiring us to disclose the nutritional content of our food products. Compliance with these laws and regulations, as well as others regarding the ingredients and nutritional content of our food products, may be costly and time-consuming. Our inability to effectively respond to changes in consumer health perceptions or resulting new laws or regulations or to adapt our menu offerings to trends in eating habits, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

Extreme weather conditions and natural disasters may interrupt our business or our customers’ businesses, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

Many of our facilities and our customers’ facilities are located in areas that may be subject to extreme and occasionally prolonged weather conditions, including hurricanes, blizzards, and extreme heat or cold. Such extreme weather conditions may interrupt our operations and reduce the number of consumers who visit our customers’ facilities in such areas. Furthermore, such extreme weather conditions may interrupt or impede access to our customers’ facilities, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

We rely on third-party suppliers, and our business may be affected by interruption of supplies or increases in product costs.

We obtain substantially all of our foodservice and related products from third-party suppliers. We typically do not have long-term contracts with our suppliers. Although our purchasing volume can sometimes provide an advantage when dealing with suppliers, suppliers may not provide the foodservice products and supplies needed by us in the quantities and at the prices requested. Our suppliers may also be affected by higher costs to source or produce and transport food products, as well as by other related expenses that they pass through to their customers, which could result in higher costs for the products they supply to us. Because we do not control the actual production of most of the products we sell, we are also subject to material supply chain interruptions, delays caused by interruption in production, and increases in product costs, including those resulting from product recalls or a need to find alternate

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materials or suppliers, based on conditions outside our control. These conditions include work slowdowns, work interruptions, strikes or other job actions by employees of suppliers, weather conditions or more prolonged climate change, crop conditions, water shortages, transportation interruptions, unavailability of fuel or increases in fuel costs, competitive demands, contamination with mold, bacteria or other contaminants, and natural disasters or other catastrophic events, including, but not limited to, the outbreak of e. coli or similar food borne illnesses or bioterrorism in the United States. Our inability to obtain adequate supplies of foodservice and related products as a result of any of the foregoing factors or otherwise could mean that we could not fulfill our obligations to our customers and, as a result, our customers may turn to other distributors. Our inability to anticipate and react to changing food costs through our sourcing and purchasing practices in the future could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

We face risks relating to labor relations, labor costs, and the availability of qualified labor.

As of June 29, 2019, we had more than 18,000 employees of whom approximately 1,000 were members of local unions associated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters or other unions. Although our labor contract negotiations have in the past generally taken place with the local union representatives, we may be subject to increased efforts to engage us in multi-unit bargaining that could subject us to the risk of multi-location labor disputes or work stoppages that would place us at greater risk of being materially adversely affected by labor disputes. In addition, labor organizing activities could result in additional employees becoming unionized, which could result in higher labor costs. Although we have not experienced any significant labor disputes or work stoppages in recent history, and we believe we have satisfactory relationships with our employees, including those who are union members, increased unionization or a work stoppage because of our failure to renegotiate union contracts could have a material adverse effect on us.

We are subject to a wide range of labor costs. Because our labor costs are, as a percentage of net sales, higher than in many other industries, we may be significantly harmed by labor cost increases. In addition, labor is a significant cost of many of our customers in the U.S. food-away-from-home industry. Any increase in their labor costs, including any increases in costs as a result of increases in minimum wage requirements, could reduce the profitability of our customers and reduce demand for our products.

We rely heavily on our employees, particularly drivers, and any shortage of qualified labor could significantly affect our business. Our recruiting and retention efforts and efforts to increase productivity may not be successful and we could encounter a shortage of qualified drivers in future periods. Any such shortage would decrease our ability to serve our customers effectively. Such a shortage would also likely lead to higher wages for employees and a corresponding reduction in our profitability.

Further, we continue to assess our healthcare benefit costs. Despite our efforts to control costs while still providing competitive healthcare benefits to our associates, significant increases in healthcare costs continue to occur, and we can provide no assurance that our cost containment efforts in this area will be effective. Our distributors and suppliers also may be affected by higher minimum wage and benefit standards, which could result in higher costs for goods and services supplied to us. If we are unable to raise our prices or cut other costs to cover this expense, such increases in expenses could materially reduce our operating profit.  

Fluctuations in fuel costs and other transportation costs could harm our business.

The high cost of fuel can negatively affect consumer confidence and discretionary spending and, as a result, reduce the frequency and amount spent by consumers within our customers’ establishments for food away from home. The high cost of fuel and other transportation related costs, such as tolls, fuel taxes, and license and registration fees, can also increase the price we pay for products as well as the costs incurred by us to deliver products to our customers. Furthermore, both the price and supply of fuel are unpredictable and fluctuate based on events outside our control, including geopolitical developments, supply and demand for oil and gas, actions by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other oil and gas producers, war and unrest in oil producing countries and regions, regional production patterns, and environmental concerns. These factors in turn could have a material adverse effect on our sales, margins, operating expenses, or results of operations.

From time to time, we may enter into arrangements to manage our exposure to fuel costs. Such arrangements, however, may not be effective and may result in us paying higher than market costs for a portion of our fuel. In addition, while we have been successful in the past in implementing fuel surcharges to offset fuel cost increases, we may not be able to do so in the future.

In addition, compliance with current and future environmental laws and regulations relating to carbon emissions and the effects of global warming can be expected to have a significant impact on our transportation costs and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

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If one or more of our competitors implements a lower cost structure, they may be able to offer lower prices to customers and we may be unable to adjust our cost structure in order to compete profitably.

Over the last several decades, the retail food industry has undergone significant change as companies such as Wal-Mart and Costco have developed a lower cost structure to provide their customer base with an everyday low-cost product offering. As a large-scale foodservice distributor, we have similar strategies to remain competitive in the marketplace by reducing our cost structure. However, if one or more of our competitors in the foodservice distribution industry adopted an everyday low price strategy, we would potentially be pressured to lower prices to our customers and would need to achieve additional cost savings to offset these reductions. We may be unable to change our cost structure and pricing practices rapidly enough to successfully compete in such an environment.

If we fail to increase our sales in the highest margin portions of our business, our profitability may suffer.

Distribution is a relatively low margin industry. The most profitable customers within the distribution industry are generally independent customers. In addition, our most profitable products are our Performance Brands. We typically provide a higher level of services to our independent customers and are able to earn a higher operating margin on sales to independent customers. Independent customers are also more likely to purchase our Performance Brands. Our ability to continue to penetrate this key customer type is critical to achieving increased operating profits. Changes in the buying practices of independent customers or decreases in our sales to independent customers or a decrease in the sales of our Performance Brands could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

Changes in pricing practices of our suppliers could negatively affect our profitability.

Distributors have traditionally generated a significant percentage of their gross margins from promotional allowances paid by their suppliers. Promotional allowances are payments from suppliers based upon the efficiencies that the distributor provides to its suppliers through purchasing scale and through marketing and merchandising expertise. Promotional allowances are a standard practice among suppliers to distributors and represent a significant source of profitability for us and our competitors. Any change in such practices that results in the reduction or elimination of promotional allowances could be disruptive to us and the industry as a whole and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

Our growth strategy may not achieve the anticipated results.

Our future success will depend on our ability to grow our business, including through increasing our independent sales, expanding our Performance Brands, making strategic acquisitions, and achieving improved operating efficiencies as we continue to expand and diversify our customer base. Our growth and innovation strategies require significant commitments of management resources and capital investments and may not grow our net sales at the rate we expect or at all. As a result, we may not be able to recover the costs incurred in developing our new projects and initiatives or to realize their intended or projected benefits, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

We may not be able to realize benefits of acquisitions or successfully integrate the businesses we acquire.

From time to time, we acquire businesses that broaden our customer base, and/or increase our capabilities and geographic reach. If we are unable to integrate acquired businesses successfully or to realize anticipated economic, operational, and other benefits and synergies in a timely manner, our profitability could be adversely affected. Integration of an acquired business may be more difficult when we acquire a business in a market in which we have limited expertise or with a company culture different from ours. A significant expansion of our business and operations, in terms of geography or magnitude, could strain our administrative and operational resources. Additionally, we may be unable to retain qualified management and other key personnel employed by acquired companies and may fail to build a network of acquired companies in new markets. We could face significantly greater competition from broadline foodservice distributors in these markets than we face in our existing markets.

We also regularly evaluate opportunities to acquire other companies. To the extent our future growth includes acquisitions, we cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain any necessary financing for such acquisitions, consummate such potential acquisitions effectively, effectively and efficiently integrate any acquired entities, or successfully expand into new markets.

In July 2019, we announced that we agreed to acquire Reinhart Foodservice, L.L.C (“Reinhart”) from Reyes Holdings, L.L.C. in a transaction valued at $2.0 billion, or approximately $1.7 billion net of an estimated tax benefit to PFG of approximately $265 million, the closing of which remains subject to receipt of required regulatory approvals and other customary conditions. The $2.0 billion purchase price is expected to be financed with borrowing under existing credit agreement capacity, new senior unsecured notes and net proceeds from an offering of shares of the Company’s common stock, subject to market conditions, of $300 million to $400 million.

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Our earnings may be reduced by amortization charges associated with any future acquisitions.

After we complete an acquisition, we must amortize any identifiable intangible assets associated with the acquired company over future periods. We also must amortize any identifiable intangible assets that we acquire directly. Our amortization of these amounts reduces our future earnings in the affected periods.

Our business is subject to significant governmental regulation, and costs or claims related to these requirements could adversely affect our business.

Our operations are subject to regulation by state and local health departments, the USDA, and the FDA, which generally impose standards for product quality and sanitation and are responsible for the administration of recent bioterrorism legislation affecting the foodservice industry. These government authorities regulate, among other things, the processing, packaging, storage, distribution, advertising, and labeling of our products. The FSMA requires that the FDA impose comprehensive, prevention-based controls across the food supply, further regulates food products imported into the United States, and provides the FDA with mandatory recall authority. Our seafood operations are also specifically regulated by federal and state laws, including those administered by the National Marine Fisheries Service, established for the preservation of certain species of marine life, including fish and shellfish. Our processing and distribution facilities must be registered with the FDA biennially and are subject to periodic government agency inspections. State and/or federal authorities generally inspect our facilities at least annually. The Federal Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act, which specifies standards for the sale, shipment, inspection, and rejection of agricultural products, governs our relationships with our fresh food suppliers with respect to the grading and commercial acceptance of product shipments. We are also subject to regulation by state authorities for the accuracy of our weighing and measuring devices. Additionally, the Surface Transportation Board and the Federal Highway Administration regulate our trucking operations, and interstate motor carrier operations are subject to safety requirements prescribed by the U.S. Department of Transportation and other relevant federal and state agencies. Our suppliers are also subject to similar regulatory requirements and oversight. In connection with a recent acquisition, we have expanded the product lines of our Vistar segment to include hemp-based CBD products authorized under the 2018 Farm Bill. Sales of certain hemp-based CBD products are prohibited in some jurisdictions and the FDA and certain states and local governments may enact regulations that limit the marketing and use of such products. In the event that the FDA or state and local governments impose regulations on CBD products, we do not know what the impact would be on our products, and what costs, requirements, and possible prohibitions may be associated with such regulations.  The failure to comply with applicable regulatory requirements could result in, among other things, administrative, civil, or criminal penalties or fines; mandatory or voluntary product recalls; warning or untitled letters; cease and desist orders against operations that are not in compliance; closure of facilities or operations; the loss, revocation, or modification of any existing licenses, permits, registrations, or approvals; or the failure to obtain additional licenses, permits, registrations, or approvals in new jurisdictions where we intend to do business, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations. These laws and regulations may change in the future and we may incur material costs in our efforts to comply with current or future laws and regulations or in any required product recalls.

In addition, our operations are subject to various federal, state, and local laws and regulations in many areas of our business, such as, minimum wage, overtime, wage payment, wage and hour and employment discrimination, immigration, human health and safety and relating to the protection of the environment, including those governing the discharge of pollutants into the air, soil, and water; the management and disposal of solid and hazardous materials and wastes; employee exposure to hazards in the workplace; and the investigation and remediation of contamination resulting from releases of petroleum products and other regulated materials. In the course of our operations, we operate, maintain, and fuel fleet vehicles; store fuel in on-site above and underground storage tanks; operate refrigeration systems, and use and dispose of hazardous substances and food wastes. We could incur substantial costs, including fines or penalties and third-party claims for property damage or personal injury, as a result of any violations of environmental or workplace safety laws and regulations or releases of regulated materials into the environment. In addition, we could incur investigation, remediation, or other costs related to environmental conditions at our currently or formerly owned or operated properties. Additionally, concern over climate change, including the impact of global warming, has led to significant U.S. and international legislative and regulatory efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Increased regulation regarding greenhouse gas emissions, especially diesel engine emissions, could impose substantial costs upon us. These costs include an increase in the cost of the fuel and other energy we purchase and capital costs associated with updating or replacing our vehicles prematurely.

Finally, following our acquisition of Eby-Brown Company LLC (“Eby-Brown”), a distributor of pre-packaged candy, snacks, specialty beverages and tobacco products in the convenience industry, in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019, we became subject to legislation, regulation and other matters regarding the marketing, distribution, sale, taxation and use of cigarette, tobacco and alternative nicotine products. For example, various jurisdictions have adopted or are considering legislation and regulations restricting displays and marketing of tobacco and alternative nicotine products, raising the minimum age to possess or purchase tobacco and alternative nicotine products, requiring the disclosure of ingredients used in the manufacture of tobacco and alternative nicotine products, and imposing restrictions on public smoking and vaping. In addition, the FDA has been empowered to regulate changes to nicotine yields and the chemicals and flavors used in tobacco and alternative nicotine products (including cigars, pipe and e-cigarette products), require ingredient listings be displayed on tobacco and alternative nicotine products, prohibit the use of certain terms which

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may attract youth or mislead users as to the risks involved with using tobacco and alternative nicotine products, as well as limit or otherwise impact the marketing of tobacco and alternative nicotine products by requiring additional labels or warnings that must be pre-approved by the FDA. Such legislation and related regulation are likely to continue to adversely impact the market for tobacco and alternative nicotine products and, accordingly, our sales of such products. Likewise, cigarettes and tobacco products are subject to substantial excise taxes. Significant increases in cigarette-related taxes and/or fees have been proposed or enacted and are likely to continue to be proposed or enacted by various taxing jurisdictions within the U.S. These tax increases negatively impact consumption and may cause a shift in sales from premium brands to discount brands, illicit channels or tobacco alternatives, such as electronic cigarettes, as smokers seek lower priced options.  Furthermore, taxing jurisdictions have the ability to change or rescind credit terms currently extended for the remittance of taxes that we collect on their behalf. If these excise taxes are substantially increased, or credit terms are substantially reduced, it could have a negative impact on our liquidity.

A portion of our sales volume is dependent upon the distribution of cigarettes and other tobacco products, sales of which are generally declining.

Following the acquisition of Eby-Brown, we anticipate a significant portion of our sales volume will be dependent upon the distribution of cigarettes and other tobacco products. Due to increases in the prices of cigarettes, restrictions on cigarette manufacturers’ marketing and promotions, increases in cigarette regulation and excise taxes, health concerns, increased pressure from anti-tobacco groups, the rise in popularity of tobacco alternatives, including electronic cigarettes, other alternative nicotine products, and other factors, cigarette consumption in the United States has been declining gradually over the past few decades. In many instances, tobacco alternatives, such as electronic cigarettes, are not subject to federal, state and local excise taxes like the sale of conventional cigarettes or other tobacco products. We expect consumption trends of legal cigarette products will continue to be negatively impacted by the factors described above. If we are unable to sell other products to make up for these declines in cigarette sales, our operating results may suffer.

If the products we distribute are alleged to cause injury or illness or fail to comply with governmental regulations, we may need to recall our products and may experience product liability claims.

The products we distribute may be subject to product recalls, including voluntary recalls or withdrawals, if they are alleged to cause injury or illness or if they are alleged to have been mislabeled, misbranded, or adulterated or to otherwise be in violation of governmental regulations. We may also voluntarily recall or withdraw products that we consider not to meet our quality standards, whether for taste, appearance, or otherwise, in order to protect our brand and reputation. If there is any future product withdrawal that could result in substantial and unexpected expenditures, destruction of product inventory, damage to our reputation, and lost sales because of the unavailability of the product for a period of time, our business, financial condition, or results of operations may be materially adversely affected.

We also may be subject to product liability claims if the consumption or use of our products is alleged to cause injury or illness. While we carry product liability insurance, our insurance may not be adequate to cover all liabilities we may incur in connection with product liability claims. For example, punitive damages may not be covered by insurance. In addition, we may not be able to continue to maintain our existing insurance, to obtain comparable insurance at a reasonable cost, if at all, or to secure additional coverage, which may result in future product liability claims being uninsured. If there is a product liability judgment against us or a settlement agreement related to a product liability claim, our business, financial condition, or results of operations may be materially adversely affected.

We rely heavily on technology in our business and any technology disruption or delay in implementing new technology could adversely affect our business.

The foodservice distribution industry is transaction intensive. Our ability to control costs and to maximize profits, as well as to serve customers effectively, depends on the reliability of our information technology systems and related data entry processes. We rely on software and other technology systems, some of which are managed by third-party service providers, to manage significant aspects of our business, including making purchases, processing orders, managing our warehouses, loading trucks in the most efficient manner, and optimizing the use of storage space. The failure of our information technology systems to perform as we anticipate could disrupt our business and could result in transaction errors, processing inefficiencies, and the loss of sales and customers, causing our business and results of operations to suffer. In addition, our information technology systems may be vulnerable to damage or interruption from circumstances beyond our control, including fire, natural disasters, power outages, systems failures, security breaches, cyber-attacks, and viruses. While we have invested and continue to invest in technology security initiatives and disaster recovery plans, these measures cannot fully insulate us from technology disruption that could result in adverse effects on our operations and profits.

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Information technology systems evolve rapidly and in order to compete effectively we are required to integrate new technologies in a timely and cost effective manner. If competitors implement new technologies before we do, allowing such competitors to provide lower priced or enhanced services of superior quality compared to those we provide, this could have an adverse effect on our operations and profits.

A cyber security incident or other technology disruptions could negatively affect our business and our relationships with customers.

We rely upon information technology networks and systems to process, transmit, and store electronic information, and to manage or support virtually all of our business processes and activities. We also use mobile devices, social networking, and other online activities to connect with our employees, suppliers, business partners, and customers. These uses give rise to cybersecurity risks, including security breach, espionage, system disruption, theft, and inadvertent release of information. Our business involves the storage and transmission of numerous classes of sensitive and/or confidential information and intellectual property, including customers’ and suppliers’ personal information, private information about employees, and financial and strategic information about us and our business partners. We have implemented measures to prevent security breaches and other cyber incidents, and, to date, interruption of our information technology networks and systems have been infrequent and have not had a material impact on our operating.  However, because cyber-attacks are increasingly sophisticated and more frequent, our preventative measures and incident response efforts may not be entirely effective. The theft, destruction, loss, misappropriation, release of sensitive and/or confidential information or intellectual property, or interference with our information technology systems or the technology systems of third parties on which we rely could result in business disruption, negative publicity, brand damage, violation of privacy laws, loss of customers, potential liability, and competitive disadvantage.

We may be subject to or affected by product liability claims relating to products we distribute.

We, like any other seller of food, may be exposed to product liability claims in the event that the use of products we sell causes injury or illness. While we believe we have sufficient primary and excess umbrella liability insurance with respect to product liability claims we cannot assure you that our limits are sufficient to cover all our liabilities or that we will be able to obtain replacement insurance on comparable terms, and any replacement insurance or our current insurance may not continue to be available at a reasonable cost, or, if available, may not be adequate to cover all of our liabilities. We generally seek contractual indemnification and insurance coverage from parties supplying products to us, but this indemnification or insurance coverage is limited, as a practical matter, to the creditworthiness of the indemnifying party and the insured limits of any insurance provided by suppliers. If we do not have adequate insurance or contractual indemnification available, product liability relating to defective products could adversely affect our profitability.

Adverse judgments or settlements resulting from legal proceedings in which we may be involved in the normal course of our business could reduce our profits or limit our ability to operate our business.

In the normal course of our business, we are involved in various legal proceedings. The outcome of these proceedings cannot be predicted. If any of these proceedings were to be determined adversely to us or a settlement involving a payment of a material sum of money were to occur, it could materially and adversely affect our profits or ability to operate our business. Additionally, we could become the subject of future claims by third parties, including our employees; suppliers, customers, and other counterparties; our investors; or regulators. Any significant adverse judgments or settlements would reduce our profits and could limit our ability to operate our business. Further, we may incur costs related to claims for which we have appropriate third-party indemnity, but such third parties fail to fulfill their contractual obligations.

Adverse publicity about us, lack of confidence in our products or services, and other risks could negatively affect our reputation and affect our business.

Maintaining a good reputation and public confidence in the safety of the products we distribute or services we provide is critical to our business, particularly to selling our Performance Brands products. Anything that damages our reputation, or the public’s confidence in our products, services, facilities, delivery fleet, operations, or employees, whether or not justified, including adverse publicity about the quality, safety, or integrity of our products, could quickly affect our net sales and profits. Reports, whether true or not, of food-borne illnesses or harmful bacteria (such as e. coli, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, hepatitis A, trichinosis, listeria, or salmonella) and injuries caused by food tampering could also severely injure our reputation or negatively affect the public’s confidence in our products. We may need to recall our products if they become adulterated. If patrons of our restaurant customers become ill from food-borne illnesses, our customers could be forced to temporarily close restaurant locations and our sales would be correspondingly decreased. In addition, instances of food-borne illnesses, food tampering, or other health concerns, such as flu epidemics or other pandemics, even those unrelated to the use of our products, or public concern regarding the safety of our products, can result in negative publicity about the foodservice distribution industry and cause our sales to decrease dramatically. In addition, a

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widespread health epidemic or food-borne illness, whether or not related to the use of our products, as well as terrorist events may cause consumers to avoid public gathering places, like restaurants, or otherwise change their eating behaviors. Health concerns and negative publicity may harm our results of operations and damage the reputation of, or result in a lack of acceptance of, our products or the brands that we carry or the services that we provide.

We have experienced losses because of the inability to collect accounts receivable in the past and could experience increases in such losses in the future if our customers are unable to pay their debts to us when due.

Certain of our customers have from time to time experienced bankruptcy, insolvency, and/or an inability to pay their debts to us as they come due. If our customers suffer significant financial difficulty, they may be unable to pay their debts to us timely or at all, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations. It is possible that customers may contest their contractual obligations to us under bankruptcy laws or otherwise. Significant customer bankruptcies could further adversely affect our net sales and increase our operating expenses by requiring larger provisions for bad debt expense. In addition, even when our contracts with these customers are not contested, if customers are unable to meet their obligations on a timely basis, it could adversely affect our ability to collect receivables. Further, we may have to negotiate significant discounts and/or extended financing terms with these customers in such a situation. If we are unable to collect upon our accounts receivable as they come due in an efficient and timely manner, our business, financial condition, or results of operations may be materially adversely affected.

Periods of difficult economic conditions and heightened uncertainty in the financial markets affect consumer confidence, which can adversely affect our business.

The foodservice industry is sensitive to national and regional economic conditions. From 2008 through the beginning of 2010, deteriorating economic conditions and heightened uncertainty in the financial markets negatively affected consumer confidence and discretionary spending. This led to reductions in the frequency of dining out and the amount spent by consumers for food-away-from-home purchases. These conditions, in turn, negatively affected our results during these periods. The development of similar economic conditions in the future or permanent changes in consumer dining habits as a result of such conditions would likely negatively affect our operating results.

Changes in federal, state, and local tax rules and the resolution of tax disputes could negatively affect our financial results.

We are subject to income and other taxes in the U.S. and various state and local jurisdictions and changes in tax laws or regulations or tax rulings may have an adverse impact on our effective tax rate. The U.S. and many state and local jurisdictions where we do business have recently enacted or are actively considering changes in relevant tax, accounting and other laws, regulations and interpretations.  For example, on December 22, 2017, the U.S. federal government enacted comprehensive tax legislation commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Act”). The Act made broad and complex changes to the U.S. federal income tax code, the impacts of which are described elsewhere in this Form 10-K.  Given the unpredictability of possible changes to U.S. federal and state and local tax laws and regulations, it is very difficult to predict their cumulative effect on our results of operations and cash flows, but new and changed laws and regulations could adversely impact our results of operations.  We are also subject to the examination of our tax returns and other tax matters by the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) and other state and local tax authorities and governmental bodies, for which we regularly assess the likelihood of an adverse outcome. If the ultimate determination of these examinations is that taxes are owed by us for an amount in excess of amounts previously accrued, our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be adversely affected.

Insurance and claims expenses could significantly reduce our profitability.

Our future insurance and claims expenses might exceed historic levels, which could reduce our profitability. We maintain high-deductible insurance programs covering portions of general and vehicle liability and workers’ compensation. The amount in excess of the deductibles is insured by third-party insurance carriers, subject to certain limitations and exclusions. We also maintain self-funded group medical insurance.

We reserve for anticipated losses and expenses and periodically evaluate and adjust our claims reserves to reflect our experience. However, ultimate results may differ from our estimates, which could result in losses over our reserved amounts.

Although we believe our aggregate insurance limits should be sufficient to cover reasonably expected claims costs, it is possible that the amount of one or more claims could exceed our aggregate coverage limits. Insurance carriers have raised premiums for many businesses in our industry, including ours. As a result, our insurance and claims expense could increase. Our results of operations and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected if (1) total claims costs significantly exceed our coverage limits, (2) we experience a claim in excess of our coverage limits, (3) our insurance carriers fail to pay on our insurance claims, (4) we experience a

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claim for which coverage is not provided or (5) a large number of claims may cause our cost under our deductibles to differ from historic averages.

Risks Relating to the Reinhart Transaction

The Reinhart Transaction is subject to conditions, some or all of which may not be satisfied, or completed on a timely basis, if at all. Failure to complete the Reinhart Transaction could have material adverse effects on us.

The completion of the Reinhart Transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including (i) the expiration or termination of the applicable waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (the “HSR Act Clearance”) and the absence of a burdensome condition (as defined in the Reinhart Transaction purchase agreement) being a condition to the receipt of the HSR Act Clearance, (ii) the absence of any legal restraint preventing the consummation of the Reinhart Transaction, (iii) the continuing accuracy of each party’s representations and warranties and compliance by the parties with their respective covenants (subject to materiality qualifiers) and (iv) the satisfaction of other conditions customary for a transaction similar to the Reinhart Transaction, which make the completion of the Reinhart Transaction and timing thereof uncertain.  If the Reinhart Transaction is not completed, our ongoing business may be materially adversely affected and, without realizing any of the benefits of having completed the Reinhart Transaction, we will be subject to a number of risks, including the following:

The materialization of any of these risks could adversely impact our ongoing business.

Similarly, delays in the completion of the Reinhart Transaction could, among other things, result in additional transaction costs, loss of revenue or other negative effects associated with uncertainty about completion of the Reinhart Transaction.

We and Reinhart are each subject to business uncertainties and contractual restrictions while the proposed acquisition is pending, which could adversely affect the business and operations of the combined company.

In connection with the pendency of the Reinhart Transaction, it is possible that some customers, suppliers and other persons with whom we or Reinhart have a business relationship may delay or defer certain business decisions or might decide to seek to terminate, change or renegotiate their relationships with us or Reinhart, as the case may be, as a result of the Reinhart Transaction, which could negatively affect our current or the combined company’s future revenues, earnings and cash flows, regardless of whether the Reinhart Transaction is completed.

Under the terms of the Reinhart Transaction purchase agreement, Reinhart is subject to certain restrictions on the conduct of its business prior to completing the Reinhart Transaction, which may adversely affect its ability to execute certain of its business strategies, including the ability in certain cases to enter into or amend contracts, acquire or dispose of assets, incur indebtedness or fund capital expenditures. Such limitations could adversely affect Reinhart’s business and operations prior to the completion of the Reinhart Transaction.

Each of the risks described above may be exacerbated by delays or other adverse developments with respect to the completion of the Reinhart Transaction.

Uncertainties associated with the Reinhart Transaction may cause a loss of management personnel and other key employees, and we may have difficulty attracting and motivating management personnel and other key employees, which could adversely affect our future business and operations.

We are dependent on the experience and industry knowledge of our management personnel and other key employees to execute their business plans. Our success after the completion of the Reinhart Transaction will depend in part upon our ability to attract, motivate and retain key management personnel and other key employees. Prior to completion of the Reinhart Transaction, current and prospective employees may experience uncertainty about their roles within our company following the completion of the Reinhart Transaction, which may have an adverse effect on our ability to attract, motivate or retain management personnel and other

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key employees. In addition, no assurance can be given that we will be able to attract, motivate or retain management personnel and other key employees to the same extent after the completion of the Reinhart Transaction.

After the Reinhart Transaction, we may be unable to successfully integrate the businesses and realize the anticipated benefits of the Reinhart Transaction.

The success of the Reinhart Transaction will depend, in part, on our ability to successfully combine Reinhart, which currently operates as an independent company, with our business and realize the anticipated benefits, including synergies, cost savings, innovation and operational efficiencies, from the combination. If we are unable to achieve these objectives within the anticipated time frame, or at all, the anticipated benefits may not be realized fully, or at all, or may take longer to realize than expected and the value of our common stock may be harmed. Additionally, as a result of the Reinhart Transaction, rating agencies may take negative actions against our credit ratings, which may increase our financing costs, including in connection with the financing of the Reinhart Transaction.  

The Reinhart Transaction involves the integration of Reinhart with our existing business, which is a complex, costly and time-consuming process. We have not previously completed a transaction comparable in size or scope to the Reinhart Transaction. The integration of Reinhart into our business may result in material challenges, including, without limitation:

Many of these factors will be outside of our control and any one of them could result in delays, increased costs, decreases in the amount of expected revenues and diversion of management’s time and energy, which could materially affect our financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

We may not have discovered undisclosed liabilities of Reinhart during our due diligence process.

In the course of the due diligence review of Reinhart that we conducted prior to the execution of the Reinhart Transaction purchase agreement, we may not have discovered, or may have been unable to quantify, undisclosed liabilities of Reinhart and its subsidiaries. Examples of such undisclosed liabilities may include, but are not limited to, pending or threatened litigation or regulatory matters. Any such undisclosed liabilities could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows following the completion of the Reinhart Transaction.

Risks Relating to Our Indebtedness

Our substantial leverage could adversely affect our ability to raise additional capital to fund our operations, limit our ability to react to changes in the economy or in our industry, expose us to interest rate risk to the extent of our variable rate debt, and prevent us from meeting our obligations under our indebtedness.

We are highly leveraged. As of June 29, 2019, we had $1,350.1 million of indebtedness. In addition, we had $1,182.7 million of availability under our Third Amended and Restated Credit Agreement dated May 17, 2019 (the “Amended Credit Agreement”) after giving effect to $89.9 million of outstanding letters of credit and $38.6 million of lenders’ reserves.

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Our high degree of leverage could have important consequences for us, including:

A substantial portion of our indebtedness is floating rate debt. If interest rates increase, our debt service obligations on such indebtedness will increase even though the amount borrowed remained the same, and our net income and cash flows, including cash available for servicing our indebtedness, will correspondingly decrease. We may elect to enter into interest rate swaps to reduce our exposure to floating interest rates as described below under “—We may utilize derivative financial instruments to reduce our exposure to market risks from changes in interest rates on our variable rate indebtedness and we will be exposed to risks related to counterparty creditworthiness or non-performance of these instruments.” However, we may not maintain interest rate swaps with respect to all of our variable rate indebtedness, and any swaps we enter into may not fully mitigate our interest rate risk.

Servicing our indebtedness will require a significant amount of cash. Our ability to generate sufficient cash depends on many factors, some of which are not within our control.

Our ability to make payments on our indebtedness and to fund planned capital expenditures will depend on our ability to generate cash in the future. To a certain extent, this is subject to general economic, financial, competitive, legislative, regulatory, and other factors that are beyond our control. If we are unable to generate sufficient cash flow to service our debt and to meet our other commitments, we may need to restructure or refinance all or a portion of our debt, sell material assets or operations, or raise additional debt or equity capital. We may not be able to effect any of these actions on a timely basis, on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, and these actions may not be sufficient to meet our capital requirements. In addition, any refinancing of our indebtedness could be at a higher interest rate, and the terms of our existing or future debt arrangements may restrict us from effecting any of these alternatives. Our failure to make the required interest and principal payments on our indebtedness would result in an event of default under the agreement governing such indebtedness, which may result in the acceleration of some or all of our outstanding indebtedness.

Despite our high indebtedness level, we and our subsidiaries will still be able to incur significant additional amounts of debt, which could further exacerbate the risks associated with our substantial indebtedness.

We and our subsidiaries may be able to incur substantial additional indebtedness in the future. Although the agreements governing our indebtedness contain restrictions on the incurrence of additional indebtedness, these restrictions are subject to a number of significant qualifications and exceptions and, under certain circumstances, the amount of indebtedness that could be incurred in compliance with these restrictions could be substantial.

The agreements governing our outstanding indebtedness contain restrictions that limit our flexibility in operating our business.

The agreements governing our outstanding indebtedness contain various covenants that limit our ability to engage in specified types of transactions. These covenants limit the ability of our subsidiaries to, among other things:

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As a result of these restrictions, we are limited as to how we conduct our business and we may be unable to raise additional debt or equity financing to compete effectively or to take advantage of new business opportunities. The terms of any future indebtedness we may incur could include more restrictive covenants. We cannot assure you that we will be able to maintain compliance with these covenants in the future and, if we fail to do so, that we will be able to obtain waivers from the lenders and/or amend the covenants.

A breach of any of these covenants could result in a default under one or more of these agreements, including as a result of cross default provisions, and, in the case of our ABL Facility, permit the lenders to cease making loans to us.

We may utilize derivative financial instruments to reduce our exposure to market risks from changes in interest rates on our variable rate indebtedness and we will be exposed to risks related to counterparty credit worthiness or non-performance of these instruments.

We may enter into pay-fixed interest rate swaps to limit our exposure to changes in variable interest rates. Such instruments may result in economic losses should interest rates decline to a point lower than our fixed rate commitments. We will be exposed to credit-related losses, which could affect the results of operations in the event of fluctuations in the fair value of the interest rate swaps due to a change in the credit worthiness or non-performance by the counterparties to the interest rate swaps.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments

None

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Item 2. Properties

As of June 29, 2019, we operated 83 distribution centers across our two reportable segments. Of our 83 facilities, we owned 35 facilities and leased the remaining 48 facilities. Our Foodservice segment operated 48 distribution centers and had an average square footage of approximately 200,000 square feet per facility. Our Vistar segment operated 35 distribution centers and had an average square footage of approximately 150,000 square feet per facility.

Our Foodservice “broad-line” customers are generally located no more than 200 miles from one of our distribution facilities, and national chain customers are generally located no more than 450 miles from one of our distribution facilities. Of the 48 Foodservice distribution centers, 10 have meat cutting operations that provide custom-cut meat products and two have seafood processing operations that provide custom-cut and packed seafood to our customers and our other distribution centers. In addition to the 35 distribution centers operated by Vistar, Vistar has 6 cash-and-carry Merchant’s Mart facilities. Customer orders are typically assembled in our distribution facilities and then sorted, placed on pallets, and loaded onto trucks and trailers in delivery sequence. Deliveries are generally made in large tractor-trailers that we usually lease. We use integrated computer systems to design and track efficient route sequences for the delivery of our products.

Our distribution center leases are on average 15.1 years in duration. Rent on our leases is typically set at a fixed annual rate, paid monthly.

Our properties also include a combined headquarters facility for our corporate offices and the Foodservice segment that is located in Richmond, Virginia; a combined support service center and headquarters facility for Vistar that is located in Colorado; and other support service centers and corporate offices located in the United States.

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Item 3. Legal Proceedings

We are a party to various claims, lawsuits and other legal proceedings arising out of the ordinary course and conduct of our business. We have insurance policies covering certain potential losses where such coverage is cost effective. For matters not specifically discussed below, although the outcomes of the claims, lawsuits and other legal proceedings to which we are a party are not determinable at this time, in our opinion, any additional liability that we might incur upon the resolution of the claims and lawsuits beyond the amounts already accrued is not expected, individually or in the aggregate, to have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows.

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Lawsuit. In March 2009, the Baltimore Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) Field Office served us with company-wide (excluding, however, our Vistar and Roma Foodservice operations) subpoenas relating to alleged violations of the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (“Title VII”), seeking certain information from January 1, 2004 to a specified date in the first fiscal quarter of 2009. In August 2009, the EEOC moved to enforce the subpoenas in federal court in Maryland, and we opposed the motion. In February 2010, the court ruled that the subpoena related to the Equal Pay Act investigation was enforceable company-wide but on a narrower scope of data than the original subpoena sought (the court ruled that the subpoena was applicable to the transportation, logistics, and warehouse functions of our broadline distribution centers only and not to our PFG Customized distribution centers). We cooperated with the EEOC on the production of information. In September 2011, the EEOC notified us that the EEOC was terminating the investigation into alleged violations of the Equal Pay Act. In determinations issued in September 2012 by the EEOC with respect to the charges on which the EEOC had based its company-wide investigation, the EEOC concluded that we engaged in a pattern of denying hiring and promotion to a class of female applicants and employees into certain positions within the transportation, logistics, and warehouse functions within our broadline division in violation of Title VII. In June 2013, the EEOC filed suit in federal court in Baltimore against us. The litigation concerns two issues: (1) whether we unlawfully engaged in an ongoing pattern and practice of failing to hire female applicants into operations positions; and (2) whether we unlawfully failed to promote one of the three individuals who filed charges with the EEOC because of her gender. The EEOC seeks the following relief in the lawsuit: (1) to permanently enjoin us from denying employment to female applicants because of their sex and denying promotions to female employees because of their sex; (2) a court order mandating that we institute and carry out policies, procedures, practices and programs which provide equal employment opportunities for females; (3) back pay with prejudgment interest and compensatory damages for a former female employee and an alleged class of aggrieved female applicants; (4) punitive damages; and (5) costs. The court bifurcated the litigation into two phases. In the first phase, the jury will decide whether we engaged in a gender-based pattern and practice of discrimination and the individual claims of one former employee. If the EEOC prevails on all counts in the first phase, no monetary relief would be awarded, except possibly for the single individual’s claims, which would be immaterial. The remaining individual claims would then be tried in the second phase. At this stage in the proceedings, the Company cannot estimate either the number of individual trials that could occur in the second phase of the litigation or the value of those claims. For these reasons, we are unable to estimate any potential loss or range of loss in the event of an adverse finding in the first and second phases of the litigation.

In May 2018, the EEOC filed motions for sanctions against us alleging that we failed to preserve certain paper employment applications and e-mails during 2004 – 2009.  In the sanctions motions, the EEOC sought a range of remedies, including a default judgment against us, or alternatively, an order barring us from filing for summary judgment on the EEOC’s pattern and practice claims. The court denied the EEOC’s motions in June 2019, but reserved ruling on whether the unavailability of certain documents will prejudice the EEOC’s ability to present expert testimony at the trial.

The parties are now in the process of filing cross motions for summary judgment. The summary judgment briefing period is expected to conclude in November 2019. We will continue to vigorously defend ourselves.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures

Not Applicable

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PART II

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Market and Price Range of Common Stock

Our common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) under the symbol “PFGC.”

Approximate Number of Common Shareholders

At the close of business on August 6, 2019, there were approximately 160 holders of record of our shares of common stock. This stockholder figure does not include a substantially greater number of holders whose shares are held of record by banks, brokers and other financial institutions.

Dividends

We have no current plans to pay dividends on our common stock. In addition, our ability to pay dividends is limited by covenants in the agreements governing our existing indebtedness and may be further limited by the agreements governing other indebtedness we or our subsidiaries incur in the future. See Part II, Item 7. — "Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Financing Activities.” Any decision to declare and pay dividends in the future will be made at the sole discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend on, among other things, our results of operations, cash requirements, financial condition, contractual restrictions, and other factors that our Board of Directors may deem relevant. Because we are a holding company, and have no direct operations, we will only be able to pay dividends from funds we receive from our subsidiaries.

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

None.

Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer

The following table provides information relating to our purchases of shares of the Company’s common stock during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019.

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Stock Performance Graph

The performance graph below compares the cumulative total shareholder return of the Company’s common stock since October 1, 2015, the date the Company’s common stock began trading on the NYSE, with the cumulative total return for the same period of the S&P 500 index and the S&P 400 Midcap Index. The graph assumes the investment of $100 in our common stock and each of the indices as of the market close on October 1, 2015 and the reinvestment of dividends.  Performance data for the Company, the S&P 500 index and the S&P 400 Midcap Index is provided as of the last trading day of each of our last four fiscal years.  The stock price performance graph is not necessarily indicative of future stock price performance.

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Item 6. Selected Financial Data

The selected statements of operations data for fiscal years 2019, 2018, and 2017, and the related selected balance sheet data as of fiscal years ending in 2019 and 2018, have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements included in Item 8. The selected historical consolidated statement of operations data for fiscal years 2016, and 2015 and the selected balance sheet data as of fiscal years ended 2017, 2016, and 2015, have been derived from our consolidated financial statements not included in this Form 10-K. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results expected for any future period.

You should read the selected consolidated financial data below together with our audited consolidated financial statements, including the related notes thereto, included in Item 8, as well as “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” included in Part II, Item 7.

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Item 7. Management Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read together with Part II, Item 6. — “Selected Financial Data” and the audited consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto included in Item 8. In addition to historical consolidated financial information, this discussion contains forward-looking statements that reflect our plans, estimates, and beliefs and involve numerous risks and uncertainties, including those described in Item 1A. Risk Factors of this Form 10-K. Actual results may differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. You should carefully read “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” in this Form 10-K.

Our Company

We market and distribute over 160,000 food and food-related products to customers across the United States from approximately 83 distribution facilities to over 170,000 customer locations in the “food-away-from-home” industry. We offer our customers a broad assortment of products including our proprietary-branded products, nationally-branded products, and products bearing our customers’ brands. Our product assortment ranges from “center-of-the-plate” items (such as beef, pork, poultry, and seafood), frozen foods, and groceries to candy, snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and other tobacco products. We also sell disposables, cleaning and kitchen supplies, and related products used by our customers. In addition to the products we offer to our customers, we provide value-added services by allowing our customers to benefit from our industry knowledge, scale, and expertise in the areas of product selection and procurement, menu development, and operational strategy.

In the first quarter of fiscal 2019, the Company changed its operating segments to reflect the manner in which the business is managed. Based on changes to the Company’s organization structure and how the Company’s management reviews operating results and makes decisions about resource allocation, the Company has two reportable segments: Foodservice and Vistar. Our Foodservice segment distributes a broad line of national brands, customer brands, and our proprietary-branded food and food-related products, or “Performance Brands.” Foodservice sells to independent and multi-unit “Chain” restaurants and other institutions such as schools, healthcare facilities, and business and industry locations. Our Chain customers are multi-unit restaurants with five or more locations and include some of the most recognizable family and casual dining restaurant chains. Our Vistar segment specializes in distributing candy, snacks, beverages, cigarettes, other tobacco products, and other items nationally to the vending, office coffee service, theater, retail, hospitality, convenience, and other channels. We believe that there are substantial synergies across our segments. Cross-segment synergies include procurement, operational best practices such as the use of new productivity technologies, and supply chain and network optimization, as well as shared corporate functions such as accounting, treasury, tax, legal, information systems, and human resources.

The Company’s fiscal year ends on the Saturday nearest to June 30^th. This resulted in a 52-week year for fiscal 2019, fiscal 2018, and fiscal 2017. References to “fiscal 2019” are to the 52-week period ended June 29, 2019, references to “fiscal 2018” are to the 52-week period ended June 30, 2018, and references to “fiscal 2017” are to the 52-week period ended July 1, 2017.

Recent Trends and Initiatives

Our case volume has grown in each quarter over the comparable prior fiscal year quarter, starting in the second quarter of fiscal 2010 and continuing through the most recent quarter. We believe that we gained industry share during fiscal 2019 given that we have grown our sales more rapidly than the industry growth rate forecasted by Technomic, a research and consulting firm serving the food and food related industry. Our Net income decreased 16.1% primarily as a result of the prior year impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Act”). Adjusted EBITDA increased 11.4% from fiscal 2018 to fiscal 2019, primarily driven by case growth, improved profit per case, and contributions from recent acquisitions. Case volume grew 6.0% in fiscal 2019 compared to fiscal 2018. Gross profit dollars rose 9.6% in fiscal 2019 versus the prior year, which was faster than case growth, primarily as a result of shifting our channel mix toward higher gross margin customers and shifting our product mix toward sales of Performance Brands. Our operating expenses in fiscal 2019 compared to fiscal 2018 rose 9.3% as a result of increases in variable operational and selling expenses associated with the increase in case volume and as a result of recent acquisitions, as well as an increase in fuel expense and personnel expenses.

Key Factors Affecting Our Business

We believe that our performance is principally affected by the following key factors:

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How We Assess the Performance of Our Business

In assessing the performance of our business, we consider a variety of performance and financial measures. The key measures used by our management are discussed below. The percentages on the results presented below are calculated based on rounded numbers.

Net Sales

Net sales is equal to gross sales, plus excise taxes, minus sales returns; sales incentives that we offer to our customers, such as rebates and discounts that are offsets to gross sales; and certain other adjustments. Our net sales are driven by changes in case volumes, product inflation that is reflected in the pricing of our products, and mix of products sold.

Gross Profit

Gross profit is equal to our net sales minus our cost of goods sold. Cost of goods sold primarily includes inventory costs (net of supplier consideration) and inbound freight. Cost of goods sold generally changes as we incur higher or lower costs from our suppliers and as our customer and product mix changes.

EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA

Management measures operating performance based on our EBITDA, defined as net income before interest expense, interest income, income taxes, and depreciation and amortization. EBITDA is not defined under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”) and is not a measure of operating income, operating performance, or liquidity presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP and is subject to important limitations. Our definition of EBITDA may not be the same as similarly titled measures used by other companies.

We believe that the presentation of EBITDA enhances an investor’s understanding of our performance. We use this measure to evaluate the performance of our segments and for business planning purposes. We present EBITDA in order to provide supplemental information that we consider relevant for the readers of our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this report, and such information is not meant to replace or supersede U.S. GAAP measures.

In addition, our management uses Adjusted EBITDA, defined as net income before interest expense, interest income, income and franchise taxes, and depreciation and amortization, further adjusted to exclude certain items that we do not consider part of our core operating results. Such adjustments include certain unusual, non-cash, non-recurring, cost reduction, and other adjustment items permitted in calculating covenant compliance under our credit agreement and indenture (other than certain pro forma adjustments permitted under our credit agreement and indenture relating to the Adjusted EBITDA contribution of acquired entities or businesses prior to the acquisition date). Under our credit agreement and indenture, our ability to engage in certain activities such as incurring certain additional indebtedness, making certain investments, and making restricted payments is tied to ratios based on Adjusted EBITDA (as defined in the credit agreement and indenture). Our definition of Adjusted EBITDA may not be the same as similarly titled measures used by other companies.

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Adjusted EBITDA is not defined under U.S. GAAP and is subject to important limitations. We believe that the presentation of Adjusted EBITDA is useful to investors because it is frequently used by securities analysts, investors, and other interested parties, including our lenders under the Amended Credit Agreement and holders of our Notes (as defined below under “—Financing Activities”), in their evaluation of the operating performance of companies in industries similar to ours. In addition, targets based on Adjusted EBITDA are among the measures we use to evaluate our management’s performance for purposes of determining their compensation under our incentive plans.

EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA have important limitations as analytical tools, and you should not consider them in isolation or as substitutes for analysis of our results as reported under U.S. GAAP. For example, EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA:

In calculating Adjusted EBITDA, we add back certain non-cash, non-recurring, and other items as permitted or required by our credit agreement and indenture. Adjusted EBITDA among other things:

We have included the calculations of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA for the periods presented.

Results of Operations, EBITDA, and Adjusted EBITDA

The following table sets forth a summary of our results of operations, EBITDA, and Adjusted EBITDA for the periods indicated (dollars in millions, except per share data):

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We believe that the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP measure to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA is net income. The following table reconciles EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA to net income for the periods presented:

Consolidated Results of Operations

Fiscal year ended June 29, 2019 compared to fiscal year ended June 30, 2018

Net Sales

Net sales growth is primarily a function of case growth, pricing (which is primarily based on product inflation/deflation), and a changing mix of customers, channels, and product categories sold. Net sales increased $2,123.6 million, or 12.1%, in fiscal 2019 compared to fiscal 2018. The increase in net sales was primarily attributable to sales growth in Vistar, particularly in the vending, office coffee service, retail, and theater channels, case growth in Foodservice, particularly in the independent channel, and recent acquisitions. The acquisition of Eby-Brown in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019 contributed $949.7 million to net sales, including $194.7 million related to tobacco excise taxes.  Case volume increased 6.0% in fiscal 2019 compared to fiscal 2018.

Gross Profit

Gross profit increased $220.2 million, or 9.6%, for fiscal 2019 compared to fiscal 2018. The increase in gross profit was the result of recent acquisitions, growth in cases sold and a higher gross profit per case, which in turn was the result of selling an improved mix of channels and products. Within Foodservice, case growth to independent customers positively affected gross profit per case. Independent customers typically receive more services from us, cost more to serve, and pay a higher gross profit per case than other customers. Also, in fiscal 2019, Foodservice grew our Performance Brand sales, which have higher gross profit per case compared to the other brands we sell. See “—Segment Results—Foodservice” below for additional discussion. Gross profit as a percentage of net sales was 12.7% for fiscal 2019 compared to 13.0% for fiscal 2018 as a result of Eby-Brown’s lower margins.  

Operating Expenses

Operating expenses increased $190.4 million, or 9.3%, for fiscal 2019 compared to fiscal 2018. The increase in operating expenses was primarily driven by the increase in case volume and the resulting impact on variable operational and selling expenses. Operating expenses also increased in fiscal 2019 as a result of recent acquisitions, increases in personnel expenses, an increase in repairs and maintenance expenses of $14.5 million, an increase in fuel expense of $11.7 million, and an increase in insurance expense of $8.5 million.  These increases were partially offset by a $5.9 million decrease in stock-based compensation expense, a $5.7 million decrease in professional fees, and a $3.0 million decrease in advisory fees.

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Depreciation and amortization of intangible assets increased from $130.1 million in fiscal 2018 to $155.0 million in fiscal 2019, an increase of 19.1%. Depreciation of fixed assets increased as a result of capital outlays to support our growth. Amortization of intangible assets, primarily customer relationships, increased as a result of recent acquisitions.

Net Income

Net income decreased by $31.9 million, or 16.1%, to $166.8 million for fiscal 2019 compared to fiscal 2018 as a result of a $56.6 million increase in income tax expense and a $5.0 million increase in interest expense, partially offset by the $29.8 million increase in operating profit.

The increase in operating profit was a result of the increase in gross profit discussed above, partially offset by the increase in operating expenses. The increase in interest expense was primarily the result of an increase in the average interest rate during fiscal 2019 compared to fiscal 2018.  

The increase in income tax expense was primarily a result of the prior year impact of the Act and the prior year excess tax benefit associated with the vesting of stock-based compensation awards.  Our effective tax rate in fiscal 2019 was 23.6% compared to   -2.6% in fiscal 2018.

The Act was signed into law on December 22, 2017.  Among its numerous changes to the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, the Act reduces the U.S. federal corporate rate from 35% to 21%.  As a result of the Act, in fiscal 2018, the Company revalued its net deferred tax liability, resulting in a decrease to the net deferred tax liability of $38.5 million with a corresponding net benefit to income tax expense for fiscal 2018.  As a result of a blended statutory rate for fiscal 2018, the Company recognized a tax benefit of $11.9 million in the prior year for the rate differential related to temporary differences.  Additionally, in fiscal 2018, performance vesting criteria for certain stock-based compensation awards was met resulting in an excess tax benefit of $15.4 million.  The effective tax rate for fiscal 2018 excluding the prior year tax benefits was 31.4%

Fiscal year ended June 30, 2018 compared to fiscal year ended July 1, 2017

Net Sales

Net sales growth is primarily a function of case growth, pricing (which is primarily based on product inflation/deflation), and a changing mix of customers, channels, and product categories sold. Net sales increased $858.1 million, or 5.1%, in fiscal 2018 compared to fiscal 2017. The increase in net sales was primarily attributable to sales growth in Vistar, particularly in the theater and retail channels, case growth in Foodservice, particularly in the independent channel, and recent acquisitions. Case volume increased 3.0% in fiscal 2018 compared to fiscal 2017.

Gross Profit

Gross profit increased $168.0 million, or 7.9%, for fiscal 2018 compared to fiscal 2017. Gross profit as a percentage of net sales was 13.0% for fiscal 2018 compared to 12.7% for fiscal 2017.  The increase in gross profit was the result of growth in cases sold and a higher gross profit per case, which in turn was the result of selling an improved mix of channels and products. Within Foodservice, case growth to independent customers positively affected gross profit per case. Independent customers typically receive more services from us, cost more to serve, and pay a higher gross profit per case than other customers. Also, in fiscal 2018, Foodservice grew our Performance Brand sales, which have higher gross profit per case compared to the other brands we sell. See “—Segment Results—Foodservice” below for additional discussion.

Operating Expenses

Operating expenses increased $125.5 million, or 6.6%, for fiscal 2018 compared to fiscal 2017. The increase in operating expenses was primarily driven by the increase in acquired case volume and the resulting impact on variable operational and selling expenses, as well as investments in selling, warehouse, and delivery personnel. Operating expenses also increased in fiscal 2018 as a result of increases in fuel expense of $15.7 million and stock-based compensation expense of $4.3 million, partially offset by a $2.6 million decrease in advisory fees and a $1.8 million decrease in professional fees.

Depreciation and amortization of intangible assets increased from $126.1 million in fiscal 2017 to $130.1 million in fiscal 2018, an increase of 3.2%. Depreciation of fixed assets increased as a result of capital outlays to support our growth, as well as recent acquisitions. This increase was partially offset by decreases in amortization since certain intangibles are now fully amortized compared to the prior year.

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Net Income

Net income increased by $102.4 million, or 106.3%, to $198.7 million for fiscal 2018 compared to fiscal 2017. The increase in net income was attributable to the $42.5 million increase in operating profit and the $66.5 million decrease in income tax expense, partially offset by a $5.5 million increase in interest expense, and a $1.1 million decrease in other income.

The increase in operating profit was a result of the increase in gross profit discussed above, partially offset by the increase in operating expenses. The increase in interest expense was primarily the result of an increase in the average interest rate and higher average borrowings during fiscal 2018 compared to fiscal 2017.  The $1.1 million decrease in other income related primarily to derivative activity.

The decrease in income tax expense was primarily a result of the impact of the Act.  Our effective tax rate in fiscal 2018 was      -2.6% compared to 39.0% in fiscal 2017. The Act was signed into law on December 22, 2017.  Among its numerous changes to the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, the Act reduces the U.S. federal corporate rate from 35% to 21%, which resulted in a blended U.S. federal statutory rate of approximately 28% for fiscal 2018 for the Company.  As a result of the Act, the Company revalued its net deferred tax liability, resulting in a decrease to the net deferred tax liability of $38.5 million with a corresponding net benefit to income tax expense for fiscal 2018.  As a result of a blended statutory rate for fiscal 2018, the Company recognized a tax benefit of $11.9 million for the rate differential related to temporary differences.  Additionally, in fiscal 2018, performance vesting criteria for certain stock-based compensation awards was met resulting in an excess tax benefit of $15.4 million.

Segment Results

In the first quarter of fiscal 2019, the Company changed its operating segments to reflect the manner in which the business is managed. Based on changes to the Company’s organization structure and how the Company’s management reviews operating results and makes decisions about resource allocation, the Company has two reportable segments: Foodservice and Vistar. Additionally, consistent with how the Company’s management assesses performance of the segments, certain administrative costs and corporate allocations, previously reported at the segment level, are included within Corporate & All Other, as opposed to the Foodservice segment. Management evaluates the performance of these segments based on various operating and financial metrics, including their respective sales growth and EBITDA.

Corporate & All Other is comprised of unallocated corporate overhead and certain operations that are not considered separate reportable segments based on their size. This includes the operations of our internal logistics unit responsible for managing and allocating inbound logistics revenue and expense.

The presentation and amounts for fiscal 2018 and fiscal 2017 have been adjusted to reflect the segment changes described above.

The following tables set forth net sales and EBITDA by segment for the periods indicated (dollars in millions):

Net Sales

EBITDA

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Segment Results—Foodservice

Fiscal year ended June 29, 2019 compared to fiscal year ended June 30, 2018

Net Sales

Net sales for Foodservice increased $822.0 million, or 5.8%, from fiscal 2018 to fiscal 2019. The increase in net sales was attributable to growth in cases sold, as well as an increase in selling price per case as a result of inflation. Securing new and expanded business with independent customers resulted in independent case growth of approximately 4.9% in fiscal 2019 compared to fiscal 2018. For fiscal 2019, independent sales as a percentage of total segment sales were 33.8%.

EBITDA

EBITDA for Foodservice increased $16.6 million, or 4.0%, from fiscal 2018 to fiscal 2019. This increase was the result of an increase in gross profit, partially offset by an increase in operating expenses excluding depreciation and amortization. Gross profit increased by 5.9% in fiscal 2019, compared to the prior fiscal year, as a result of an increase in cases sold, as well as an increase in the gross profit per case. The increase in gross profit per case was driven by a favorable shift in the mix of cases sold, including more Performance Brands products sold to our independent customers, as well as by an increase in procurement gains. Independent business has higher gross margins within this segment.

Operating expenses excluding depreciation and amortization for Foodservice increased by $90.5, or 6.5%, from fiscal 2018 to fiscal 2019. Operating expenses increased as a result of an increase in case volume and the resulting impact on variable operational and selling expenses, as well as an increase in personnel expenses. Operating expenses also increased as a result of an $8.4 million increase in fuel expense, a $6.7 million increase in repairs and maintenance expense, and a $5.8 million increase in insurance expense in fiscal 2019 as compared to the prior year.

Depreciation of fixed assets and amortization of intangible assets recorded in this segment increased from $78.4 million in fiscal 2018 to $91.8 million in fiscal 2019. This increase was the result of capital outlays for transportation equipment and recent warehouse expansions.

Fiscal year ended June 30, 2018 compared to fiscal year ended July 1, 2017

Net Sales

Net sales for Foodservice increased $524.8 million, or 3.8%, from fiscal 2017 to fiscal 2018. This increase in net sales was attributable to an increase in selling price per case as a result of inflation. Securing new and expanded business with independent customers resulted in independent case growth of approximately 5.6% in fiscal 2018 compared to fiscal 2017. For fiscal 2018, independent sales as a percentage of total segment sales were 33.7%.

EBITDA

EBITDA for Foodservice increased $16.3 million, or 4.1%, from fiscal 2017 to fiscal 2018. This increase was the result of an increase in gross profit, partially offset by an increase in operating expenses excluding depreciation and amortization. Gross profit increased by 5.7% in fiscal 2018, compared to the prior fiscal year, as a result of an increase in the gross profit per case. The increase in gross profit per case was driven by a favorable shift in the mix of cases sold toward independent customers and Performance Brands, as well as by an increase in procurement gains. Independent business has higher gross margins within this segment.

Operating expenses excluding depreciation and amortization for Foodservice increased by $81.9 million, or 6.2%, from fiscal 2017 to fiscal 2018. Operating expenses increased as a result of an increase in case volume and the resulting impact on variable operational and selling expenses, as well as investments in selling, warehouse, and delivery personnel.  Operating expenses also increased as a result of a $12.1 million increase in fuel expense, which mostly occurred in the second half of fiscal 2018.

Depreciation of fixed assets and amortization of intangible assets recorded in this segment increased from $76.4 million in fiscal 2017 to $78.4 million in fiscal 2018. The increase was a result of recent acquisitions and capital outlays for computer software, transportation equipment, warehouse equipment, partially offset by a decrease in amortization of intangible assets since certain intangibles are now fully amortized.  

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Segment Results—Vistar

Fiscal year ended June 29, 2019 compared to fiscal year ended June 30, 2018

Net Sales

Net sales for Vistar increased $1,300.8 million, or 38.9%, from fiscal 2018 to fiscal 2019. This increase was driven by recent acquisitions, as well as by case sales growth in the segment’s vending, office coffee service, retail, and theater channels. The acquisition of Eby-Brown in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019 contributed $949.7 million to net sales, including $194.7 million related to excise taxes.  

EBITDA

EBITDA for Vistar increased $32.5 million, or 24.4%, from fiscal 2018 to fiscal 2019. Gross profit dollar growth of $110.5 million, or 23.7% for fiscal 2019 compared to fiscal 2018, was driven by recent acquisitions and an increase in the number of cases sold, as well as an increase in gross profit per case.  The increase in gross profit per case was driven by a favorable shift in channel mix, as well as by an increase in procurement gains.  Gross profit as a percentage of net sales declined from 14.0% if fiscal 2018 to 12.4% as a result of Eby-Brown’s lower margins.

Operating expenses excluding depreciation and amortization increased $78.0 million, or 23.4%, for fiscal 2019 compared to the prior year. Operating expenses increased primarily as a result of an increase in case volume and the resulting impact on variable operational and selling expenses, as well as increases in personnel expenses.  Operating expenses also increased as a result of recent acquisitions.

Depreciation of fixed assets and amortization of intangible assets recorded in this segment increased from $27.4 million in fiscal 2018 to $39.2 million in fiscal 2019. Depreciation of fixed assets increased as a result of capital outlays for leasehold improvements and transportation equipment.  Amortization of intangible assets increased as a result of recent acquisitions and accelerated amortization of certain customer relationships.

Fiscal year ended June 30, 2018 compared to fiscal year ended July 1, 2017

Net Sales

Net sales for Vistar increased $337.4 million, or 11.2%, from fiscal to 2017 fiscal 2018. This increase was driven by case sales growth in the segment’s theater and retail channels, as well as recent acquisitions.

EBITDA

EBITDA for Vistar increased $15.4 million, or 13.1%, from fiscal 2017 to fiscal 2018. Gross profit dollar growth of $72.5 million, or 18.4% for fiscal 2018 compared to fiscal 2017, was driven by an increase in the number of cases sold, as well as an increase in gross profit per case.  The increase in gross profit per case was driven by a favorable shift in channel mix, as well as by an increase in procurement gains.

Operating expenses, excluding depreciation and amortization, increased $57.7 million, or 20.9%, for fiscal 2018 compared to the prior year. Operating expenses increased primarily as a result of an increase in case volume and the resulting impact on variable operational and selling expenses, as well as cost of living and other increases in compensation and benefits.  Operating expenses also increased as a result of recent acquisitions.

Depreciation of fixed assets and amortization of intangible assets recorded in this segment increased from $24.6 million in fiscal 2017 to $27.4 million in fiscal 2018. Amortization of intangible assets increased as a result of recent acquisitions.

Segment Results—Corporate & All Other

Fiscal year ended June 29, 2019 compared to fiscal year ended June 30, 2018

Net Sales

Net sales for Corporate & All Other increased $36.8 million from fiscal 2018 to fiscal 2019. The increase was primarily attributable to an increase in logistics services provided to our other segments.

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EBITDA

EBITDA for Corporate & All Other was a negative $154.9 million for fiscal 2019 compared to a negative $160.4 million for fiscal 2018. The improvement in EBITDA was primarily driven by decreases in stock-based compensation expense of $5.9 million, professional fees of $4.7 million, and advisory fees of $3.0 million.  In fiscal 2018, this segment recognized expense related to the accelerated vesting of certain performance-based awards and development costs related to certain productivity initiatives the Company no longer pursued.  

Depreciation of fixed assets and amortization of intangible assets recorded in this segment decreased from $24.3 million in fiscal 2018 to $24.0 million in fiscal 2019.

Fiscal year ended June 30, 2018 compared to fiscal year ended July 1, 2017

Net Sales

Net sales for Corporate & All Other increased $17.4 million from fiscal 2017 to fiscal 2018. The increase was primarily attributable to an increase in logistics services provided to our other segments.

EBITDA

EBITDA for Corporate & All Other was a negative $160.4 million for fiscal 2018 compared to a negative $174.1 million for fiscal 2017. The improvement in EBITDA was primarily driven by decreases in personnel expenses of $10.3 million, professional and other services fees of $4.1 million, insurance expense of $2.7 million, and advisory fees of $2.6 million, partially offset by an increase in stock-based compensation expense of $4.3 million.

Depreciation of fixed assets and amortization of intangible assets recorded in this segment decreased from $25.1 million in fiscal 2017 to $24.3 million in fiscal 2018.

Quarterly Results and Seasonality

Historically, the food-away-from-home and foodservice distribution industries are seasonal, with lower profit in the first and third quarters of each calendar year. Consequently, we typically experience lower operating profit during our first and third fiscal quarters, depending on the timing of acquisitions, if any.

Financial information for each quarter of fiscal 2019 and fiscal 2018 is set forth below:

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Liquidity and Capital Resources

We have historically financed our operations and growth primarily with cash flows from operations, borrowings under our credit facility, operating and capital leases, and normal trade credit terms. We have typically funded our acquisitions with additional borrowings under our credit facility. Our working capital and borrowing levels are subject to seasonal fluctuations, typically with the lowest borrowing levels in the third and fourth fiscal quarters and the highest borrowing levels occurring in the first and second fiscal quarters. We believe that our cash flows from operations and available borrowing capacity will be sufficient both to meet our anticipated cash requirements over at least the next 12 months and to maintain sufficient liquidity for normal operating purposes.

At June 29, 2019, our cash balance totaled $25.4 million, including restricted cash of $10.7 million, as compared to a cash balance totaling $17.8 million, including restricted cash of $10.3 million, at June 30, 2018. This increase in cash during fiscal 2019 was attributable to net cash provided by operating activities of $317.4 million and financing activities of $39.6 million, which was partially offset by net cash used in investing activities of $349.4 million. We borrow under the Amended Credit Agreement (as defined below) or pay it down regularly based on our cash flows from operating and investing activities. Our practice is to minimize interest expense while maintaining reasonable liquidity.

On November 13, 2018, the Board of Directors authorized a share repurchase program for up to $250 million of the Company’s outstanding common stock. The purchases are executed in accordance with applicable securities laws and may be made at management’s discretion from time to time in the open market, through privately negotiated transactions or otherwise, including pursuant to Rule 10b5-1 trading plans. The share repurchase program does not have an expiration date and may be amended, suspended, or discontinued at any time. Repurchases under this program depend upon market place conditions and other factors, including compliance with the covenants under the Amended Credit Agreement and the indenture governing the Notes (as defined in “—Financing Activities” below).  The share repurchase program remains subject to the discretion of the Board of Directors. During fiscal 2019, the Company repurchased and subsequently retired 0.3 million shares of common stock for a total of $9.3 million. As of June 30, 2019, approximately $240.7 million remained available for additional share repurchases.  

As market conditions warrant, we may from time to time seek to repurchase our securities or loans in privately negotiated or open market transactions, by tender offer or otherwise. Any such repurchases may be funded by incurring new debt, including additional borrowings under our Amended Credit Agreement.  In addition, depending on conditions in the credit and capital markets and other factors, we will, from time to time, consider other financing transactions, the proceeds of which could be used to refinance our indebtedness, make investments or acquisitions or for other purposes.  Any new debt may be secured debt.

On May 17, 2019, PFGC, Inc. (“PFGC”) and Performance Food Group, Inc., each a wholly-owned subsidiary of Performance Food Group Company, entered into the Third Amended and Restated Credit Agreement (the “Amended Credit Agreement”) with Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, as Administrative Agent and Collateral Agent, and the other lenders party thereto. The Amended Credit Agreement amends and restates the Second Amended and Restated Credit Agreement, dated February 1, 2016, with Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, as Administrative Agent and Collateral Agent, and the other lenders from time to time party thereto (as amended by the First Amendment to Second Amended and Restated Credit Agreement, dated August 3, 2017, the “ABL Facility”). The Amended Credit Agreement, among other things, (i) increases the aggregate principal amount available from $1.95 billion under the ABL Facility to $2.4 billion under the Amended Credit Agreement, (ii) extends the stated maturity date from February 1, 2021 under the ABL Facility to May 17, 2024 under the Amended Credit Agreement, and (iii) reduces the interest rate applicable to loans available under the Amended Credit Agreement. Like the ABL Facility, the Amended Credit Agreement provides for up to $800.0 million of uncommitted incremental facilities.

Operating Activities