Investing.com -- Shares in Sysco Corporation (NYSE:SYY), the nation's largest food distributor to restaurants and cafeterias, were relatively flat in after-hours trading after mixed earnings during the fourth quarter of its fiscal year 2015.
While the Houston-based company saw its quarterly profit fall by more than 70% for the three-month period that ended in June, the majority of the losses were attributed to the collapse of its acquisition attempt of rival U.S. Foods earlier in the month. The merger attempt fell apart when a federal judge sided decisively with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) after two weeks of contentious hearings in an antitrust lawsuit. In late-June, U.S. district judge Amit Metha blocked the merger, citing antitrust regulations related to industry concentration that could harm competition. Sysco suffered a $313 million loss in expense related to the termination of the merger, along with another $117 million charge in legal, interest and other related expenses.
Nevertheless, Sysco's adjusted operating income, excluding the expenses related to the failed acquisition, increased 5.8% on the quarter to $509 million on a year-over-year basis. On the fiscal year as a whole, Sysco's revenues increased 4.7% to $48.7 billion while its gross profit increased 4.5% to $8.6 billion. In addition, the company's adjusted earnings per share rose 5.1% to 1.84, while its free cash flow stood at $1.0 billion.
"I am pleased with our results for fiscal 2015 and particularly encouraged by our performance in the fourth quarter," Sysco CEO Bill DeLaney said in a statement. "For the year, we delivered solid earnings growth on an adjusted basis by providing our customers with excellent service, growing our business with both our locally and corporate managed customers, and stabilizing our gross margins by successfully implementing several value-added commercial initiatives. Our expense management improved in the fourth quarter and contributed to our six percent growth in adjusted operating income."
As previously announced, Sysco's board of directors has authorized an incremental $3 billion share repurchasing plan, including $1.5 billion in fiscal year 2016.
"Looking forward, we remain highly focused on supporting the success of our customers, profitably growing our business and improving our return on invested capital," DeLaney added.
Shares in Sysco fell slightly by 0.06 or 0.16% to 37.52 in after-hours trading.