McCormick & Company (MKC) FY 2025 Conference September 03, 2025 12:45 PM ET Speaker0Thanks a lot. Brendan and Marcos, maybe a good place to start. You had some recent news. You recently announced the acquisition of an incremental 25% ownership in McCormick to Mexico. Maybe you can walk through the sort of the strategic rationale for the deal, financial impact on total McCormick following the close of the transaction.Speaker1We're excited about this transaction, and it's been part of our pipeline for a long ...

Core Viewpoint - Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, Inc. reported exceptional second quarter results for fiscal 2025, with record sales and earnings, leading to an increased fiscal outlook for the year [2][19]. Financial Performance - Net sales for the second quarter of fiscal 2025 increased by $27.7 million, or 9.0%, reaching $335.8 million compared to the same quarter in fiscal 2024 [3][8]. - Daily average comparable store sales rose by 8.9%, driven by a 5.9% increase in transaction count and a 2.8% increase in transaction size [3][8]. - Gross profit for the second quarter increased by $11.4 million, or 12.6%, to $101.7 million, with a gross margin improvement of 100 basis points to 30.3% [4][11]. - Operating income surged by 55.9% to $17.6 million, with an operating margin of 5.2%, up from 3.7% in the prior year [7][14]. - Net income increased by 64.6% to $13.1 million, translating to diluted earnings per share of $0.56, compared to $0.35 in the same quarter of fiscal 2024 [7][8]. Cost Management - Store expenses rose by 5.1% to $72.8 million, but as a percentage of net sales, they decreased to 21.7% from 22.5% in the previous year, indicating expense leverage [5][12]. - Administrative expenses increased by 15.8% to $11.0 million, with a slight rise in percentage of net sales to 3.3% from 3.1% [6][13]. Growth and Development - The company opened two new stores during the second quarter, bringing the total to 169 stores across 21 states [18][22]. - The fiscal 2025 outlook has been raised, with expected daily average comparable store sales growth adjusted to 6.5% to 7.5% and diluted earnings per share revised to $1.78 to $1.86 [19][20]. Cash Flow and Balance Sheet - As of March 31, 2025, the company had $21.2 million in cash and cash equivalents, with no outstanding borrowings on its revolving credit facility [16][28]. - The company generated $36.7 million in cash from operations during the first six months of fiscal 2025 [16][30].