For the fourth quarter ended June 30, net income was $25,955,000, or 95c per share, down 11% from $29,293,000, or $1.07 per share, in the same period a year ago. Net sales were $273,959,000, up 7% from $256,034,000.
Full-year operating income within Lancaster’s Specialty Foods segment fell 2% to $151,479,000, while sales in the division increased 7% to $988,937,000 from $922,856,000. For the fourth quarter, operating income in the segment rose 23% to $41,969,000, while sales rose 8% to $230,317,000.
“We are pleased to conclude fiscal 2012 with solid fourth-quarter improvements in sales and operating income despite the year-long challenge of generally higher material costs,” said John B. Gerlach Jr., chairman and chief executive officer. “Throughout the year, Specialty Foods sales benefitted from our product innovation efforts across both retail and food service lines. New retail items helped our key product lines maintain or grow category shares. Similar to fiscal 2011, we were unable to offset the full material cost escalation through higher pricing.”
