First Quarter Sales, Earnings Down Slightly for Unified

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 18, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Unified Grocers, Inc. ("Unified" or the "Company"), the largest wholesale grocery distributor in the western United States, announced net earnings of $3.7 million for the first fiscal quarter ended January 2, 2010 ("2010 period"), as compared to net earnings of $3.9 million for the first fiscal quarter ended December 27, 2008 ("2009 period").

The Los Angeles-based cooperative reported net sales of $1 billion for the 2010 period, as compared to $1.045 billion for the 2009 period, a decline of 4.3 percent. The Company attributed its sales decrease primarily to the general economic conditions, including a shift in customer demand towards lower cost items. In addition, approximately $12.4 million of the reduction in sales was due to the shift of the New Year's holiday from the second quarter of fiscal 2009 to the first quarter of fiscal 2010. Sales during the week of the New Year's holiday are lower than a typical sales week. The decrease in sales was partially offset by additional sales of $8.7 million in the Company's specialty foods subsidiary.

Earnings before patronage dividends and income taxes were $10.7 million for the 2010 period, compared to $16.2 million for the 2009 period. The 2009 period was positively impacted by inventory holding gains resulting from an unusually high level of food inflation and other vendor related support during that period. The 2010 period was characterized by low levels of inflation (and deflation in certain categories). Lower sales volume in the 2010 period also contributed to the decrease in pre-patronage earnings.

"We are pleased with our results for the first quarter," said Al Plamann, president and chief executive officer, Unified Grocers. "While our net earnings were off slightly, our performance is right where we thought we would be at this point in time. If the economy continues to show signs of stabilizing throughout the year, we believe Unified and our independent retailers will perform well in 2010.

"Although the economy doesn't appear to be in full recovery mode yet, some stabilizing factors are becoming more apparent with the passage of time," Plamann said. "While consumers continue to spend cautiously, our sales during the holiday season reflected an improvement over recent trends. For the most part, our independent retailers are right in synch with this shift. They are both flexible in their product mix and maintain close contact with their customers."

Unified Grocers is a retailer-owned wholesale grocery distributor that supplies independent retailers throughout the western United States. Unified and its subsidiaries, which generated approximately $4.1 billion in sales during fiscal 2009, offer independent retailers all the resources they need to compete in the supermarket industry.

An online version of Unified's Form 10-Q, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, is available on Unified's website at www.unifiedgrocers.com and at www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml.

The Unified Grocers, Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=1214

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements about the future performance of Unified Grocers based on Management's assumptions and beliefs in light of information currently available to it. There are a variety of factors that could cause actual and future results to differ materially from those anticipated by the statements made above. These factors are outlined in the Company's Form 10-K and other interim reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Furthermore, Unified undertakes no obligation to update, amend or clarify forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.