Winn-Dixie Stores Inc.’s days as an independent company are coming to an end.
The supermarket chain has scheduled a meeting for Friday morning at its Westside Jacksonville headquarters for shareholders to vote on its proposed acquisition by Bi-Lo LLC.
Winn-Dixie has not said exactly when the merger will be completed. But often in merger situations, the deal is finalized at the close of business on the day of the shareholder vote. So look for an announcement late Friday afternoon.
There still is one major question to be addressed in the merger: where will the headquarters of the combined company be? Jacksonville or Bi-Lo’s home in Greenville, S.C.?
Winn-Dixie continues to say in its list of frequently asked questions posted for employees that no decision will be made on the headquarters until the merger is completed.
But the two companies already have announced that Bi-Lo Chairman Randall Onstead will become CEO and president of the combined company. Winn-Dixie CEO Peter Lynch will leave the company after the merger. That suggests Greenville is the more likely locale for the headquarters.
The two companies have said that no stores will be closed and that the merged company will continue to have a major presence in Jacksonville and Greenville.
If the headquarters is officially placed in Greenville, it will be a sad day for Jacksonville.
Winn-Dixie has shrunk in size significantly since its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in 2005 and 2006 but despite that, it has maintained its status as a Fortune 500 company with more than $6 billion in annual sales.
It’s the one company that the Jacksonville business community has been able to count on in the Fortune 500 for decades. CSX Corp., which is now Jacksonville’s largest company, had its headquarters in Richmond, Va., before officially moving here in 2003.
And the other two locally based Fortune 500 firms, Fidelity National Financial Inc. and its spinoff Fidelity National Information Services Inc., moved to Jacksonville from Santa Barbara, Calif., that same year.
Winn-Dixie doesn’t appear to be facing any serious opposition from shareholders to the merger, even though the company has been served with eight lawsuits from stockholders seeking to block it. None of its largest shareholders have come out against the deal.
The stock was trading between $9.46 and $9.50 a share last week, pretty close to the $9.50 buyout price. That indicates Wall Street is expecting the deal to close shortly.
Publix reports higher sales and earnings
Winn-Dixie competitor Publix Super Markets Inc. continues to grow its sales and earnings. The Lakeland-based company last week reported that fourth-quarter sales rose 13.4 percent to $7.2 billion and earnings rose 16.8 percent to $399.5 million. Comparable-store sales rose 5.3 percent in the quarter.
Publix said its fourth-quarter 2011 results benefited from having one additional week compared with the fourth quarter of 2010.
Publix also said that its stock price increased from $20.20 on Nov. 1 to $22.40 as of March 1. The stock is not publicly traded and is made available for sale only to Publix employees. The stock price is determined by an appraisal five times a year.
St. Joe details 2011 loss
The St. Joe Co. last week reported a final 2011 net loss of $330.3 million, or $3.58 a share. The loss was expected after the developer announced last month that it would take big write-offs on the value of some of its projects because of a new real estate development strategy.
St. Joe said in its annual report filed last week with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it recorded $377.3 million in impairment charges due to “the decline in demand and market prices in our real estate markets.”
A good chunk of those write-offs — $87.4 million — came from St. Joe’s one remaining Northeast Florida project, the 4,170-acre RiverTown community in St. Johns County. The company is entitled for 4,500 residential units in RiverTown but has only sold 45, according to the annual report.
St. Joe, which moved its headquarters from Jacksonville to WaterSound in the Florida Panhandle, owns a total of 573,000 acres of land, mainly in the Panhandle.
St. Joe still is planning to invest in RiverTown, according to its year-end news release.
“We plan to continue to invest in certain of our current projects where the investments meet our risk-adjusted return criteria in line with our new real estate investment strategy,” CEO Park Brady said in the release.
“In 2012, we intend for our capital spending to be focused on our holdings in Venture Crossings at the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport, Breakfast Point, our primary home community in Bay County, and RiverTown,” he said.
Analysts give mixed outlook on Interline
Interline Brands Inc. reported fourth-quarter earnings of 26 cents per share, 1 cent higher than the previous year and 2 cents higher than the average forecast of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.
Interline’s stock has been on an upswing, rising from a low of $12.20 five months ago to above $20 last week. But analysts have mixed views on the outlook for the Jacksonville-based distributor of maintenance, repair and operations products.
“Sentiment has clearly improved as investors price in future end-market recovery. Our view is that investors should remain on the sidelines because of limited upside to numbers and a rich valuation,” a William Blair & Co. analyst said in a research note.
Merkel rates Interline’s stock at “market perform.”
Matthew McCall of BB&T Capital Markets rates the stock at “hold.”
“We see no real revenue growth catalysts in the near term, as we expect issues tied to state/local budgets and single-family housing to persist,” McCall said in his report.
But David Manthey of Robert W. Baird maintains an “outperform” rating on Interline after the company “highlighted improving fundamentals in major end markets” in its year-end report.
“Given this backdrop, coupled with recent sales and operational investments, the company appears positioned to potentially deliver accelerated sales growth and improved operating leverage in 2012 and beyond, which should drive higher earnings and valuation,” Manthey said in his report.
Stein Mart sales up in February
Stein Mart Inc. started the new fiscal year off right by reporting an increase in February sales.
The Jacksonville-based fashion retailer said total sales for the four weeks ended Feb. 25 rose 0.3 percent to $80.7 million and comparable-store sales rose 0.7 percent. Stein Mart had 262 stores in operation at the end of February, compared with 264 a year earlier.
The February results reversed a trend of falling sales. Stein Mart’s total sales in the fiscal year that ended Jan. 28 fell 1.8 percent and comparable-store sales dropped by 1.1 percent.
Stein Mart will report final financial results for fiscal 2011 on Thursday.
Landstar ‘comfortable’ with forecast
Landstar System Inc. CEO Henry Gerkens said last week that he remains “very comfortable” with the trucking company’s first-quarter forecast that earnings per share will rise 19-30 percent to 51-56 cents a share, and revenue will be up in the low-to-mid-teen percent range.
“I am pleased to state that with the first two months of the 2012 first quarter now complete, we are very much on track to achieve those forecasts,” Gerkens said in his regular midquarter conference call.
“Overall demand continues to remain very strong and in line with our expectations,” he said.
Gerkens said the first two months are typically Landstar’s slowest time of the year, and he expects business to pick up this month as it usually does.
“We are anticipating a strong March,” he said.
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