Aramark makes acquisition, posts strong earnings
Aramark said Wednesday that it paid $140 million this month for HPSI, an Irving, Calif., group-purchasing firm for the health care, hospitality and higher education sectors.
Aramark said Wednesday that it paid $140 million this month for HPSI, an Irvine, Calif., group-purchasing firm for the health care, hospitality and higher education sectors.
Eric J. Foss, Aramark's chairman and chief executive, said that HPSI - which was founded in 1964, according to HPSI's web site - has thousand of clients for whom it buys $1.4 billion worth of goods, but Aramark declined to share HPSI's revenue or profits on a conference call with analysts.
"Our objective is to take this, combine it with our own purchasing power," Foss said. "More to come relative to the upside potential," he said.
Aramark's shares were up 2.7 percent, or 97 cents, to $36.72 in early trading Wednesday after the provider of food and uniform services posted better-than-expected results for the quarter ended July.
Adjusted earnings per share were 34 cents, slightly better than the 32 cents per share expected by analysts. Total revenue was $3.59 billion in the quarter, up 2.8 percent from $3.49 billion in the comparable period a year ago.
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