Middleby Corp. sees growth despite lower 4Q numbers

ELGIN - The Middleby Corp. a manufacturer of equipment for the commercial food service, food processing, and residential kitchen industries, reported lower earnings and sales for the fourth quarter and fiscal year of 2015.

The company said net earnings for the fourth quarter were $50.3 million, or 88 cents diluted earnings per share on net sales of $534.7 million, as compared to the prior year fourth quarter net earnings of $51.7 million, 91 cents diluted earnings per share on net sales of $435 million.

For the 2015 fiscal year, net earnings were $191.6 million, or $3.36 diluted earnings per share on net sales of $1,826 billion, compared to net earnings of $193.3 million or $3.40 diluted earnings per share on net sales of $1.636 billion.

Despite the lower numbers, Middleby Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Selim A. Bassoul was very positive on the company's performance.

"We realized solid sales growth at the commercial food service equipment group in 2015 as we continued to increase our business with chain restaurant customers adopting our new and innovative technologies," Bassoul said. "We also continued to realize growth in international markets despite challenging market and currency conditions. Profitability within this segment continued to remain strong, while integrating four businesses acquired in 2015."

The acquisitions of Desmon, Marsal, Goldstein and Induc during the past year "added to our portfolio of leading brands, our lineup of innovative technologies, and our global footprint," he added.

Bassoul said continued demand for Middleby products, as well as the recent acquisition of AGA Rangemaster Group, will remain strong in 2016.

"We continue to see strong demand for our innovative equipment solutions and a continued pipeline of projects moving into 2016," Bassoul said.