UNFI Reports Fiscal 2026 Q4 and Full Year Results; Makes Progress Against Value Creation Strategy
September 8, 2026 3 minute read
Today, UNFI reported fourth quarter and full year fiscal 2026 results, completing another year of progress against its strategy to add value for customers and suppliers and become a more effective and efficient company.
Adjusted EBITDA was up 48.3% for the quarter and up 27.0% for the full year. Free cash flow was down $6 million in the quarter and up $84 million for the full year, bringing total free cash flow to $323 million for fiscal 2026 – the highest in more than a decade.
As expected, net sales were down 0.7% for the quarter and 2.0% versus fiscal 2025, reflecting the impact of planned network optimization actions and the completion of short-term project work. These factors were partially offset by the cycling of last year's cyber event. Excluding those factors, UNFI’s underlying sales were up low-single digits, in line with the growing portions of the grocery retail industry.
During the Company’s investor call, CEO Sandy Douglas described an enduring trend that reflects the importance of differentiation in the grocery industry.
“Food retailers with differentiated value propositions have steadily gained share within the grocery industry over time. We continue to see this trend across a wide range of retailers, including natural and organic grocers, as well as smaller chains and independents with unique, locally relevant offerings. Our focus is helping our customers execute growth strategies to differentiate their shopping experiences and better compete with mass and discount retailers,” Douglas said.
Adding Value for Customers and Suppliers
UNFI continues to focus on adding value for customers and suppliers by enhancing account management, merchandising and supplier support programs, innovative private brands, and professional services that help its partners differentiate, compete, and profitably grow.
During fiscal 2026, UNFI launched more than 130 new private brand SKUs, including innovative, health-forward products that meet evolving shopper needs. The Company also added new AI-enabled capabilities to the UNFI Insights platform, helping suppliers manage store-level performance and improve demand planning.
Becoming More Effective and Efficient
UNFI is continuing to become a more effective and efficient Company through investments in next-generation supply chain solutions. Recently, the Company expanded its Joliet, Ill. distribution center with full-case automation, which is in early stages of implementation. The Company also completed the rollout of an AI-powered supply chain and procurement planning platform across its distribution network and expanded Lean Daily Management to 44 distribution centers.
"We continue making progress on our key metrics of fill rate, on-time deliveries, and throughput, all of which improved on a year-over-year basis for the fourth consecutive quarter," said Matteo Tarditi, UNFI’s Chief Operating Officer. "These results reflect the benefits of our effectiveness and efficiency initiatives, investments in our next-generation supply chain, and the expansion of Lean practices across our network."
For fiscal 2027, UNFI leaders expressed high confidence in the Company’s ability to deliver its guidance, which includes low single digit sales growth, high single digit adjusted EBITDA growth, and $275 to $325 million in free cash flow.
"Looking ahead, our team remains focused on helping our customers execute their differentiation strategies, helping our suppliers grow with these resilient retailers, and continuing to improve the service we deliver every day," said Douglas.
For more details, read UNFI’s press release or listen to the recording of its public earnings call.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding the Company’s business that are not historical facts are “forward-looking statements” that involve risks and uncertainties and are based on current expectations and management estimates; actual results may differ materially. The risks and uncertainties which could impact these statements are described in the Company’s filings under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including under the section entitled “Risk Factors” in the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended August 3, 2024 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on October 1, 2024 and other filings the Company makes with the SEC, and include, but are not limited to, our dependence on principal customers; the relatively low margins of our business, which are sensitive to inflationary and deflationary pressures and intense competition, including as a result of the continuing consolidation of retailers and the growth of consumer choices for grocery and consumable purchases; our ability to realize the anticipated benefits of our strategic initiatives; changes in relationships with our suppliers; our ability to develop, implement, operate and maintain, and rely on third parties to operate and maintain, reliable and secure technology systems, and the effectiveness of the Company’s business continuity plans in response to an incident impacting the Company’s technology systems, such as the unauthorized incident on its technology systems; labor and other workforce shortages and challenges; the addition or loss of significant customers or material changes to our relationships with these customers; our ability to realize anticipated benefits of strategic transactions; our ability to continue to grow sales, including of our higher margin natural and organic foods and non-food products; our ability to maintain sufficient volume in our Natural and Conventional businesses to support our operating infrastructure; our ability to access additional capital; increases in healthcare, pension and other costs under our single employer benefit plan and multiemployer benefit plans; the potential for additional asset impairment charges; our sensitivity to general economic conditions including inflation, tariff policy and changes in disposable income levels and consumer purchasing habits; our ability to timely and successfully deploy our warehouse management system throughout our distribution centers and our transportation management system across the Company and to achieve efficiencies and cost savings from these efforts; the potential for disruptions in our supply chain or our distribution capabilities from circumstances beyond our control, including due to lack of long-term contracts, severe weather, labor shortages or work stoppages or otherwise; the effect of adverse decisions in, or settlement of, litigation or other proceedings to which we are subject; moderated supplier promotional activity, including decreased forward buying opportunities; union-organizing activities that could cause labor relations difficulties and increased costs; changes in tax laws and regulations, and actions by federal, state and local taxing authorities related to the interpretation and application of such tax laws and regulations; our ability to maintain food quality and safety; and volatility in fuel costs. Any forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and, as such, speak only as of the date made. The Company is not undertaking to update any information in the foregoing reports until the effective date of its future reports required by applicable laws. Any estimates of future results of operations are based on a number of assumptions, many of which are outside the Company’s control and should not be construed in any manner as a guarantee that such results will in fact occur. These estimates are subject to change and could differ materially from final reported results. The Company may from time to time update these publicly announced estimates, but it is not obligated to do so.
Non-GAAP Financial Measures: To supplement the financial information presented on a U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) basis, the Company has included in this press release the non-GAAP financial measures Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EPS, adjusted effective tax rate, free cash flow, net debt to Adjusted EBITDA leverage ratio and Capital and cloud implementation expenditures. Adjusted EBITDA is a consolidated measure which the Company reconciles by adding Net (loss) income including noncontrolling interests, less Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests, plus Non-operating income and expenses, including Net periodic benefit income, excluding service cost, Interest expense, net and Other (income) expense, net, plus (Benefit) provision for income taxes and Depreciation and amortization all calculated in accordance with GAAP, plus adjustments for Share-based compensation, non-cash LIFO charge or benefit, Restructuring, acquisition and integration related expenses, Goodwill impairment charges, Loss (gain) on sale of assets and other asset charges, certain legal charges and gains, and certain other non-cash charges or other items, as determined by management. Adjusted EPS is a consolidated measure, which the Company reconciles by adding Net (loss) income attributable to UNFI plus the LIFO charge or benefit, Goodwill impairment benefits and charges, Restructuring, acquisition, and integration related expenses, gains and losses on sales of assets, certain legal charges and gains, surplus property depreciation and interest expense, losses on debt extinguishment, the impact of diluted shares when GAAP earnings is presented as a loss and non-GAAP earnings represent income, and the tax impact of adjustments and the adjusted effective tax rate, which tax impact is calculated using the adjusted effective tax rate, and certain other non-cash charges or items, as determined by management. The adjusted effective tax rate is calculated based on adjusted net income before tax and excludes the potential impact of changes to uncertain tax positions, valuation allowances, tax impacts related to the vesting of share-based compensation awards and discrete GAAP tax items which could impact the comparability of the operational effective tax rate. Free cash flow is defined as net cash provided by operating activities less payments for capital expenditures. Net debt to Adjusted EBITDA leverage ratio is defined as the total carrying value of the Company’s outstanding short- and long-term debt and finance lease liabilities less net cash and cash equivalents, the sum of which is divided by the trailing four quarters Adjusted EBITDA. Capital and cloud implementation expenditures is defined as the sum of payments for capital expenditures and cloud technology implementation expenditures.