Whole Foods Market Updates 2017 Outlook; Appoints Keith Manbeck As CFO

(RTTNews) - Whole Foods Market, Inc. (WFM) announced, for fiscal 2017, the company now targets: sales growth of 1.0% or greater; comps decline of approximately 2.5% or better; EPS of $1.30 or greater; and EBITDA margin of approximately 8%. The company's outlook excludes $76 million, or $0.14 per share, in charges incurred in the first and second quarters, as well as potential future LIFO adjustments and share repurchases.

The company expects to return to positive comparable store sales and earnings growth by the end of fiscal year 2018. For fiscal 2020, the company targets: total sales of over $18 billion; comps greater than 2.0%; EBITDA margin greater than 9.5%; and cash flow from operations of over $1.2 billion.

Whole Foods Market also announced the appointment of Keith Manbeck as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, effective May 17, 2017. Manbeck brings to Whole Foods Market more than 20 years of financial and operational experience at leading companies, most recently serving as Senior Vice President of Digital Finance, Strategy Management and Business Transformation at Kohl's Corp. since 2014. Glenda Flanagan will retire as CFO, coincident with Manbeck's appointment.

Whole Foods Market also announced a significant refreshment of its Board of Directors by appointing five new independent directors, effective immediately: Ken Hicks; Joe Mansueto; Sharon McCollam; Scott Powers; and Ron Shaich. The company also announced that Gabrielle Sulzberger has been appointed the new Chair of the Whole Foods Market Board of Directors and Mary Ellen Coe has been appointed the new Chair of the Nominating & Governance Committee.

The company's Board announced a new capital allocation strategy expanding its commitment to return capital to shareholders. As part of this strategy, the Board announced a 29% increase in the regular quarterly dividend to $0.18 per share and authorized a new $1.25 billion share repurchase program, with the intent to opportunistically utilize the authorization over the next 18 months. The new authorization will replace the company's existing program. The next quarterly dividend to be declared is expected to be payable on July 11, 2017 to shareholders of record as of June 30, 2017.