HOUSTON — Sysco Corporation announced it has acquired Armstrong Produce and Kula Produce, Hawaii-based broadline fresh produce wholesalers and distributors with approximately $155 million in combined annual revenue. The acquisitions will operate as part of FreshPoint, Sysco’s specialty produce company.
Armstrong Produce was founded in 1979 and has grown from a small family-run wholesale business into Hawaii’s leading produce wholesaler and distributor. With operations in Honolulu, Kona and Kahului, the company supplies a wide range of customers, from local chefs to retailers, with fresh produce daily. Armstrong Produce and Kula Produce are sister companies.
“Armstrong Produce and Kula Produce have been providing quality service and produce to Hawaii and the Pacific Region since 1979, and we are excited to welcome them to the Sysco family of companies and to FreshPoint,” said Greg Bertrand, Sysco’s executive vice president, U.S. foodservice operations. “A key pillar of FreshPoint’s strategy for continued growth and value creation is the continuous assessment of new market opportunities. Acquiring Armstrong Produce and Kula Produce provides Sysco and FreshPoint with additional direct access to the Hawaiian Islands and increased capacity to expand our produce assortment in the local market.”
FreshPoint expects to retain the executive leadership team of Armstrong Produce and Kula Produce, as well as all current associates.
“By leveraging the combined skills of FreshPoint, Armstrong Produce and Kula Produce, we are better positioned to serve our customers,” continued Bertrand. “This partnership provides an opportunity to broaden our vision to be our customers’ most valued and trusted business partner.”
About Sysco
Sysco is the global leader in selling, marketing and distributing food products to restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities, lodging establishments and other customers who prepare meals away from home. Its family of products also includes equipment and supplies for the foodservice and hospitality industries. With more than 69,000 associates, the company operates more than 320 distribution facilities worldwide and serves more than 650,000 customer locations. For fiscal 2019 that ended June 29, 2019, the company generated sales of more than $60 billion. Information about our CSR program, including Sysco’s 2019 Corporate Social Responsibility Report, can be found at www.sysco.com/csr2019report.
For more information, visit www.sysco.com or connect with Sysco on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SyscoCorporation or Twitter at https://twitter.com/Sysco. For important news and information regarding Sysco, visit the Investor Relations section of the company’s Internet home page at http://investors.sysco.com/, which Sysco plans to use as a primary channel for publishing key information to its investors, some of which may contain material and previously non-public information. Investors should also follow us at www.twitter.com/SyscoStock and download the Sysco IR App, available on the iTunes App Store and the Google Play Market. In addition, investors should continue to review our news releases and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It is possible that the information we disclose through any of these channels of distribution could be deemed to be material information.
About FreshPoint, a Sysco Company
FreshPoint is North America’s largest exclusively owned produce distributor. We have the line authority to hold our companies accountable to a high level of customer service. With unmatched fresh produce, knowledge and experience, FreshPoint provides today’s chefs with the ingredients to create tomorrow’s culinary success.
About Armstrong Produce
Founded in 1979, Armstrong has grown from a small family-run wholesale business into Hawaii’s leading produce wholesaler and distributor. With locations in Honolulu, Kona & Kahului, Armstrong Produce supplies a wide range of customers, from local chefs to big box retailers, with fresh produce every day.
About Kula Produce
Founded in 1987 as a sister company to Armstrong Produce, Kula Produce has grown into the largest produce distributor on Maui with a focus on providing retailers, hotels and restaurants with the highest quality produce and best customer service.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements made in this press release that look forward in time or that express management’s beliefs, expectations or hopes are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements reflect the views of management at the time such statements are made and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, estimates, and assumptions that may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations, including but not limited to the possibility that certain assumptions with respect to J. Kings Food Service Professionals or the transaction could prove to be inaccurate; the failure to receive, delays in the receipt of, or unacceptable or burdensome conditions imposed in connection with, all required regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of the closing conditions to the transaction; the potential failure to retain key employees as a result of the proposed transaction or during integration of the businesses and disruptions resulting from the proposed transaction, making it more difficult to maintain business relationships; the effect of the announcement of the transaction on our customers, vendors, lenders, operating results and businesses generally; and the general risks associated with our business, including the risks of interruption of supplies due to lack of long-term contracts, severe weather, crop conditions, work stoppages, intense competition, technology disruptions, dependence on large, long-term regional and national customers, inflation risks, the impact of fuel prices, adverse publicity, labor issues, political or financial instability, trade restrictions, tariffs, currency exchange rates, transport capacity and costs and other factors relating to foreign trade, any or all of which could delay our receipt of product or increase our input costs. For a discussion of additional factors impacting Sysco’s business, see our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2018, as filed with the SEC, and our subsequent filings with the SEC, including our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the third quarter of fiscal 2019. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable law.
