UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

For the fiscal year ended December 30, 2018

Commission File Number: 001-36029

 

Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

5455 East High Street, Suite 111

Phoenix, Arizona 85054

(Address of principal executive offices and zip code)

(480) 814-8016

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes  ☒    No  ☐ 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.    ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

 

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

As of June 29, 2018, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, the aggregate market value of the registrant’s voting common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant was $2,815,472,482, based on the last reported sale price of such stock as reported on The NASDAQ Global Select Market on such date.

As of February 18, 2019, there were outstanding 124,123,213 shares of the registrant’s common stock, $0.001 par value per share.

 

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the registrant’s definitive Proxy Statement for its 2019 Annual Meeting of Stockholders are incorporated by reference in Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K where indicated. Such Proxy Statement will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days of the registrant’s fiscal year ended December 30, 2018.

 

 

 

 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

As used in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, unless the context otherwise requires, references to the “Company,” “Sprouts,” “we,” “us” and “our” refer to Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and, where appropriate, its subsidiaries.

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains “forward-looking statements” that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. The statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (referred to as the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (referred to as the “Exchange Act”), including, but not limited to, statements regarding our expectations, beliefs, intentions, strategies, future operations, future financial position, future revenue, projected expenses, and plans and objectives of management. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “project,” “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” “can,” “predict,” “potential,” “continue,” “objective,” or the negative of these terms, and similar expressions intended to identify forward-looking statements. However, not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. These forward-looking statements reflect our current views about future events and involve known risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievement to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in the section titled “Risk Factors” included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Furthermore, such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this report. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements.

 

 

 

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PART I

Sprouts Farmers Market operates as a healthy grocery store that specializes in fresh, natural and organic products at prices that appeal to everyday grocery shoppers. Based on the belief that healthy food should be affordable, Sprouts’ welcoming environment and knowledgeable team members continue to drive its growth. Sprouts offers a complete grocery shopping experience that includes an array of fresh produce in the heart of the store, a deli with prepared entrees and side dishes, The Butcher Shop, The Fish Market, an expansive vitamins and supplements department and more. Since our founding in 2002, we have grown rapidly, significantly increasing our sales, store count and profitability. With 313 stores in 19 states as of December 30, 2018, we are one of the largest specialty retailers of fresh, natural and organic food in the United States. As of February 18, 2019, we have grown to 318 stores in 19 states.

At Sprouts, we believe healthy living is a journey and every meal is a choice. The cornerstones of our business are fresh, natural and organic products at compelling prices (which we refer to as “Healthy Living for Less”), an attractive and differentiated shopping experience featuring a broad selection of innovative healthy products, and knowledgeable team members who we believe provide best-in-class customer engagement and product education.

Our Heritage

In 2002, we opened the first Sprouts Farmers Market store in Chandler, Arizona. From our founding in 2002 through December 30, 2018, we have continued to open new stores while successfully rebranding to the Sprouts banner 43 Henry’s Farmers Market and 39 Sunflower Farmers Market stores added in 2011 and 2012, respectively, through acquisitions. These three businesses all trace their lineage back to Henry’s Farmers Market and were built with similar store formats and operations including a strong emphasis on value, produce and service in smaller, convenient locations. The consistency of these formats and operations was an important factor that allowed us to rapidly and successfully rebrand and integrate each of these businesses under the Sprouts banner and on a common platform.

 

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Our Stores and Operations

We believe our stores represent a blend of conventional supermarkets, farmers markets, natural foods stores, and smaller specialty markets, differentiating us from other food retailers, while also providing a complete offering for our customers.

 

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Our Product Offering

We are a complete food retailer that offers a full shopping experience for our customers. We focus and tailor our assortment to fresh, natural and organic foods and healthier options throughout all of our departments.

Fresh, Natural and Organic Foods

We focus our product offerings on fresh, natural and organic foods. Foods are generally considered “fresh” if they are minimally processed or in their raw state not subject to any type of preservation or freezing. Natural foods can be broadly defined as foods that are minimally processed and are free of synthetic preservatives, artificial sweeteners, colors, flavors and other additives, growth hormones, antibiotics, hydrogenated oils, stabilizers and emulsifiers. Essentially, natural foods are largely or completely free of non-naturally occurring chemicals and are as near to their whole, natural state as possible.

Organic foods refer to the food itself as well as the method by which it is produced. In general, organic operations must demonstrate that they are protecting natural resources, conserving biodiversity, and using only approved substances and must be certified by a USDA-accredited certifying agency. Further, retailers that handle, store or sell organic products must implement measures to protect their organic character.

Products

We categorize the varieties of products we sell as perishable and non-perishable. Perishable product categories include produce, meat, seafood, deli, bakery, floral and dairy and dairy alternatives. Non-perishable product categories include grocery, vitamins and supplements, bulk items, frozen foods, beer and wine, and natural health and body care. The following is a breakdown of our perishable and non-perishable sales mix:

 

 

Departments

While we focus on providing an abundant and affordable offering of natural and organic produce, our stores also include the following departments that enable customers to have a full grocery shopping experience: packaged groceries, meat and seafood, deli, vitamins and supplements, dairy and dairy alternatives, bulk items, baked goods, frozen foods, natural health and body care, and beer and wine. We believe each of our departments provides high-quality, value-oriented offerings for our customers which we continuously refine with our customer preferences in mind, including our ongoing fresh food and deli expansion initiatives in select stores, comprised of freshly prepared proteins and sides, full service deli case, salad bar, fresh juices and soup station to provide more convenient prepared food options for our customers.

 

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Private Label

We have been expanding the breadth of our Sprouts branded products over the last several years and have a dedicated product development team focused on continuing this growth. These products feature competitively priced specialty and innovative products, with great taste profiles and quality and strict ingredient standards that we believe equal or exceed national brands. Our private label program accounted for approximately 13% of our revenue in 2018 and features approximately 2,400 products. Our private label brands drive value by offering our customers lower prices while still delivering generally higher margin as compared to branded products. We believe our private label products build and enhance the Sprouts brand and allow us to distinguish ourselves from our competitors, promoting customer loyalty and creating a destination shopping experience.

Sourcing and Distribution

We manage the buying of, and set the standards for, the products we sell, and we source our products from over 780 vendors and suppliers, both domestically and internationally. We work closely with our supply chain partners to improve animal welfare standards, sustainable seafood sourcing, support for organic agriculture and the ethical treatment of people.

We believe, based on our industry experience, that our strong relationships in the produce business provide us a competitive advantage and enable us to offer high-quality produce at prices we believe are significantly below those of conventional food retailers and even further below high-end natural and organic food retailers. Given the importance of produce to our stores, we source, warehouse and self-distribute nearly all produce. This ensures our produce meets our high quality standards. We are supported by dedicated regional procurement teams that provide us flexibility to procure produce on local, regional and national levels.

We have department and product specifications that ensure a consistently high level of quality across product ingredients, production standards and other key measures of freshness, natural and organic standards. These specifications are measured at both entry and exit points to our facilities. We distribute all produce to our stores from two leased distribution centers and three third-party operated distribution centers, and we manage every aspect of quality control in this department. We believe we currently have sufficient capacity at these facilities to support our near-term growth plans in our current markets, but we continue to explore expansion opportunities as our needs evolve.

We believe our scale, together with this decentralized purchasing structure and flexibility generates cost savings, which we then pass on to our customers. Distributors and farmers recognize the volume of goods we sell through our stores and our flexible purchasing and supply chain model allows us to opportunistically acquire produce at great value which we will also pass along to our customers.

For all non-produce products, we use third-party distributors and vendors to distribute products directly to our stores following specifications and quality control standards that are set by us.

KeHE Distributors, LLC (“KeHE”), is our primary supplier of dry grocery and frozen food products, accounting for approximately 34%, 34% and 33% of our total purchases in fiscal 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively. Another 4% of our total purchases in each of fiscal 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively, were made through our secondary supplier, United Natural Foods, Inc. (“UNFI”). See “Risk Factors—Disruption of significant supplier relationships could negatively affect our business.”

 

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Our Pricing, Marketing and Advertising

Pricing

We are committed to a pricing strategy consistent with our motto of “Healthy Living for Less.” As a farmers market style store, we emphasize low prices throughout the entire store, as we are able to pass along the benefits of our scale and purchasing power to our customers. We position our prices with everyday value for our customers with regular promotions on selected products that drive traffic and trial. We typically have about 31% of our approximately 20,100 products on sale at any given time.

Marketing and Advertising

We supplement and support our everyday competitive pricing strategy through weekly advertised specials, a weekly e-circular, online coupons and special promotions. We send over 19 million weekly advertisement circulars to encourage customers to shop at our stores. These circulars focus on product education and offerings and aim to engage the customer. We use sales flyers distributed through direct delivery or inserted into local newspapers as our primary medium for advertising. These sales flyers include representative products from our key departments. In addition, we have a customer database of over two million customers as of December 30, 2018, many of whom receive electronic versions of our weekly circulars or monthly newsletters.

We tailor our advertisements to specific markets, which provides us with greater flexibility to offer different promotions and respond to local competitive activity. In addition, we advertise our sales promotions and support our brand image through the use of local radio, television and billboards, as well as targeted direct mail in specific markets.

We also continue to promote and enhance our digital presence.  We developed and maintain a smartphone app on which we include mobile coupons, customized offers based on the user’s preferences and in-store scan features, and our website, www.sprouts.com, on which we display our weekly sales flyers, highlight our product offerings and offer special deals. Our website and smartphone app also feature on-line ordering for delivery. The inclusion of our website address in this Annual Report on Form 10-K does not include or incorporate by reference the information on or accessible through our website herein. We continue to expand our social media platform. As of December 30, 2018, we had approximately 1.6 million social media followers, primarily on Facebook and Instagram. In addition, we offer home deliveries from our stores through partner services in many of our markets, and we intend to expand our home delivery to our major markets nationwide. We will continue to explore mobile and digital opportunities to further connect with our customers.    

In addition to the weekly circulars, we offer numerous other saving opportunities for our customers, all of which are meant to reinforce our value offering and are designed to appeal to specific target customers. In 2018, we had more than 30 major promotional events throughout the year, which included our Vitamin Extravaganza, Frozen Frenzy, Gluten-Free Favorites, and Incredible Bulk Sales, in addition to our 72-Hour Sales.

Our Customers

Our target customer seeks a wide assortment of high-quality fresh and nutritious food as well as vitamins and supplements at competitive prices. We believe our value proposition and complete grocery offering engages both conventional and health-focused shoppers.

 

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We have a broad range of customers from those looking for value, to customers seeking specific attribute products, to those seeking to eat healthier. We believe the majority of our customers are initially attracted to our stores by our fresh produce, which we offer at prices we believe are significantly below those of conventional food retailers and even further below high-end natural and organic food retailers. We drive customer traffic by aggressively promoting produce and other items through weekly advertisements designed primarily to reach the everyday supermarket shopper. Through department-specific promotions, in-store signage, digital engagement and customer education, many customers begin to shop new departments and try new products. Over time, through customer service and engagement, targeted marketing, and increased knowledge of our product offering, we believe that customers will shop with greater frequency throughout the entire store.

Sustainability and Social Responsibility

Central to our identity is a genuine commitment to sustainability and social responsibility. We care deeply about the health and well-being of our customers, team members, communities and our world.  We are committed to operating our business in a way that respects social and environmental welfare.

Hunger Relief and Waste Management

In the United States, approximately 40% of all food grown goes uneaten and ends up in landfills, while one in seven Americans is food insecure at some point throughout a given year.  We are committed to eliminating food waste and fighting hunger in the communities we serve.  We have taken great strides to ensure that each of our stores and distribution centers has a food recovery program in place.  In 2018, Sprouts rescued and repurposed nearly 64 million pounds of food.  

Every day, Sprouts team members gather product that may no longer be in retail condition, but remains wholesome to consume, through our Food Rescue Program.  In 2018, Sprouts stores and distribution centers donated over 27 million pounds of food, the equivalent of 23 million meals to hunger relief agencies.  Our annual Grab’N’Give campaign funded by contributions from our customers generated over 487,000 personal care and emergency food bags for those in need. Sprouts was proud to once again be named a Leadership Partner by Feeding America in 2018 for our commitment to help those facing hunger in our communities.

Food that did not meet our Food Rescue Program donation guidelines was sent to local farms through our Food Waste to Farms Program.  In 2018, our stores diverted more than 37 million pounds of food waste to these farms to provide a low-cost feed source for local farmers. As part of our further effort to combat waste, during 2018 we recycled more than 91 million pounds of cardboard. These waste reduction initiatives reduce our environmental footprint and waste management expenditures and take Sprouts closer to our commitment to “zero waste.”  

Refrigeration and Energy Management

Sprouts has a robust refrigeration and energy management plan in place to reduce fugitive refrigeration emissions and reduce energy consumption in our stores. In 2017, we conducted our first annual greenhouse gas emissions inventory and identified areas of opportunity within our operations and supply chain, and the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) recognized 76 Sprouts stores with “GreenChill” certifications; the GreenChill program is a partnership between the EPA and food retailers to reduce refrigerant emissions and decrease their impact on the ozone layer and climate change.  

 

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To further reduce energy consumption in our stores, Sprouts implemented a program engaging our approximately 30,000 team members to “Save Green”.  The Save Green program is a team member engagement tool aimed at reducing energy consumption and costs through best practices.  Sprouts also embeds green building practices into our new stores and remodels that lead to long-term reduced energy consumption and cost.  Some examples include daylight harvesting, LED lighting and energy management systems to control refrigeration and HVAC.  

The Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation

In 2015, we formed the Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation (referred to as our “Foundation”), a registered 501(c)(3) organization focused on promoting nutrition education and fresh food access in local communities where Sprouts operates. Our Foundation relies on donations from Sprouts, as well as our vendors and customers, to support non-profit organizations that fulfill its mission. Sprouts covers 100% of the Foundation’s operational expenses ensuring that every dollar raised benefits the Foundation’s programs. Since the Foundation’s inception, it has provided over $7 million in donations to more than 250 non-profit organizations.

 

Our Foundation has multi-year partnerships with seven organizations that are committed to making a meaningful difference in the lives of children, individuals and families.

 

The Foundation began the Neighborhood Grants program in 2017 to distribute donations received from Sprouts and our customers entirely in the communities in which the donations were collected. In 2018, with Neighborhood Grants ranging from $2,500 to $10,000, our Foundation contributed $550,000 to 85 local non-profit organizations aligned with its goal to create stronger and healthier communities. Our Foundation and stores also contributed financial and in-kind donations to those impacted by natural disasters during 2018 in North Carolina and California. On November 3, 2018 we hosted our first company-wide Day of Service, uniting 500 team members for 28 community service projects across the country.   

 

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Growing Our Business

We believe we are well-positioned to capitalize on two powerful, long-term consumer trends—a growing interest in health and wellness and a focus on value and are pursuing a number of strategies designed to continue our growth and strong financial performance, including:

Expand our store base. We intend to continue expanding our store base by pursuing new store openings in existing markets, expanding into adjacent markets and penetrating new markets. We have opened 30, 32 and 36 new stores in fiscal 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively.  We expect to continue to expand our store base with approximately 28 store openings and one relocation planned for fiscal 2019, of which five new stores have opened as of February 18, 2019. In the near term we expect to open approximately 30 new stores annually, with approximately 50% in existing markets.

The below diagram shows our store footprint, by state, as of December 30, 2018.

 

 

 

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Continue positive comparable store sales. For 47 consecutive quarters, including throughout the economic downturn from 2008 to 2010, stores under our management have achieved positive comparable store sales growth. We believe the consistency of our performance over time and across geographies and vintages is the result of a number of factors, including our distinctive value positioning and merchandising strategies, product innovation and a well-trained staff focused on customer education and engagement. We believe we can continue to grow the number and size of customer transactions by enhancing our core value proposition and distinctive customer-oriented shopping experience. We aim to grow our average ticket by continuing to expand and refine our fresh, natural and organic product offering, our private label program, our targeted and personalized marketing efforts and our in-store and digital education. We believe these factors, combined with the continued strong growth in fresh, natural and organic food consumption, will allow Sprouts to gain new customers, increase customer loyalty and, over time, convert single-department customers into core customers who shop Sprouts with greater frequency and across an increasing number of departments.

Grow the Sprouts Farmers Market brand. We are committed to supporting our stores, product offerings and brand through a variety of marketing programs, expanded private label offerings and corporate partnerships. In addition, we will continue our community outreach and charity programs to more broadly connect with our local communities with the aim of promoting our brand and educating consumers on healthy choices. We will also continue to expand our innovative marketing and promotional strategy through print, digital and social media platforms.

Train Future Leaders. We believe Sprouts is an attractive place to work with significant growth opportunities for our approximately 30,000 team members. In 2018, we promoted more than 6,000 team members. We regularly assess prevailing wages in the markets in which we operate and offer competitive wages and benefits as we believe active, educated and passionate team members contribute to consumer satisfaction. Customer engagement is critical to our culture and growth plans, and we place great importance on recruiting candidates that share our passion for Healthy Living for Less and training our team members on customer engagement and product knowledge to ensure there is friendly, knowledgeable staff in every department in every store. Our team members are trained and empowered to proactively engage with customers throughout the entire store. This includes investing time to educate them on the benefits of different vitamins, sharing ways to prepare a meal or cutting a piece of produce or opening a package to offer customers product tastings throughout the store. We consider customer education and engagement to be particularly important as many conventional supermarket customers that have not shopped our stores believe that eating healthy is expensive and difficult.

New Store Development

We have an extensive and selective process for new store site selection, which includes in-depth analysis of area demographics, competition, growth potential, traffic patterns, grocery spend and other key criteria. We have a dedicated real estate team as well as a real estate committee that includes certain of our executive officers. Multiple members of this committee will conduct an on-site inspection prior to approving any new location.

We believe that our store model, combined with our rigorous store selection process and a growing interest in health and wellness, contribute to our attractive new store returns on investment and strong cash flows. We have been successful across varying geographies which we believe supports the portability of the Sprouts brand and store model into a wide range of markets. Based on our experience, we believe that our broad product offering and value proposition appeals to a wider demographic than other leading competitors, including higher-priced health food and gourmet food retailers. Sprouts has been successful across a variety of urban, suburban and rural locations in diverse geographies, from coast to coast, underscoring the heightened interest in eating healthy across markets.

 

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We currently expect to open approximately 30 new Sprouts Farmers Market stores per year over the near term based on our new store site selection analysis. We expect to open approximately 50% of our new stores in existing markets and approximately 50% in new markets, as we believe this provides for a good balance, given that our new stores in existing markets mature more quickly than those in new markets.  This mix allows us to focus our resources on developing our new markets, so they begin with a solid foundation.

See “Properties” for additional information with respect to our store locations.

Our Competition and Industry

We operate within the intensely competitive and highly fragmented grocery store industry which encompasses a wide array of food retailers, including large conventional independent and chain supermarkets, warehouse clubs, small grocery and convenience stores, and natural and organic, specialty, mass, discount and other food retail and online formats. According to the Progressive Grocer, U.S. supermarket sales totaled $683 billion in 2017. Based on our industry experience, we believe we are capturing significant market share from conventional supermarkets and specialty concepts in this supermarket segment.

While the natural and organic food segment is one of the fastest growing segments in the industry, conventional supermarkets have experienced overall share decline from approximately 73% in 2005 to approximately 63% in 2017, according to the Progressive Grocer, as customers have migrated to other grocery retail formats. Conventional supermarket customers are attracted to unique product offerings, formats and differentiated shopping experiences. Based on our industry experience, we also believe consumers are increasingly focused on health and wellness and are actively seeking healthy foods in order to improve eating habits. This overall demand for healthy products is driven by many factors, including increased awareness about the benefits of eating healthy, a greater focus on preventative health measures, and the rising costs of health care. We believe customers are attracted to retailers with comprehensive health and wellness product offerings. As a result, food retailers are offering an increased assortment of fresh, natural and organic foods as well as vitamins and supplements to meet this demand.

Our competitors include conventional supermarkets such as Kroger, Albertsons and Safeway, and other food retailers such as Whole Foods, Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage and Trader Joe’s, as well as mass or discount retailers, warehouse membership clubs, online retailers such as Amazon, specialty stores, restaurants, and home delivery and meal solution companies. We believe Sprouts offers consumers a compelling value relative to our competitors and will continue to benefit from increasing consumer focus on health, wellness and value, as well as their emphasis on an enhanced shopping experience featuring a broad selection of products along with exceptional customer engagement.

Insurance and Risk Management

We use a combination of insurance and self-insurance to provide for potential liability for workers’ compensation, general liability, product liability, director and officers’ liability, team member healthcare benefits, and other casualty and property risks. Changes in legal trends and interpretations, variability in inflation rates, changes in the nature and method of claims settlement, benefit level changes due to changes in applicable laws, insolvency of insurance carriers, and changes in discount rates could all affect ultimate settlements of claims. We evaluate our insurance requirements on an ongoing basis to ensure we maintain adequate levels of coverage.

 

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Trademarks and Other Intellectual Property

We believe that our intellectual property has substantial value and has contributed to the success of our business. In particular, our trademarks, including our registered SPROUTS FARMERS MARKET^®, SPROUTS^® and HEALTHY LIVING FOR LESS!^® trademarks, are valuable assets that we believe reinforce our customers’ favorable perception of our stores. In addition to our trademarks, we believe that our trade dress, which includes the human-scale design, arrangement, color scheme and other physical characteristics of our stores and product displays, is a large part of the farmers market atmosphere we create in our stores and enables customers to distinguish our stores and products from those of our competitors.

From time to time, third parties have used names similar to ours, have applied to register trademarks similar to ours and, we believe, have infringed or misappropriated our intellectual property rights. Third parties have also, from time to time, opposed our trademarks and challenged our intellectual property rights. We respond to these actions on a case-by-case basis. The outcomes of these actions have included both negotiated out-of-court settlements as well as litigation.

Information Technology Systems

We have made significant investments in information technology infrastructure and business systems, including point-of-sale, data warehouse, labor management, purchasing, inventory control, demand forecasting, financial and reporting systems. Our recent investments have focused on solutions to enhance our operational productivity, optimize our labor, maintain our in-stock positions and forecast our customer demand, while maintaining our high quality and value proposition.  All of our stores operate under one integrated information technology platform which allows for our current and future store growth. We will continue making investments in our current information technology infrastructure and invest in systems that scale to support our growth and add efficiencies to our growing operations.  

 

Regulatory Compliance

Our stores are subject to various local, state and federal laws, regulations and administrative practices affecting our business. We must comply with provisions regulating health and sanitation standards, food labeling, equal employment, minimum wages, environmental protection, licensing for the sale of food and, in many stores, licensing for beer and wine or other alcoholic beverages. Our operations, including the manufacturing, processing, formulating, packaging, labeling and advertising of products are subject to regulation by various federal agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”), the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”), the Consumer Product Safety Commission (“CPSC”) and the EPA.

Food. The FDA has comprehensive authority to regulate the safety of food and food ingredients (other than meat, poultry, catfish and certain egg products), as well as dietary supplements under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (“FDCA”). Similarly, the USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service is the public health agency responsible for ensuring that the nation’s commercial supply of meat, poultry, catfish and certain egg products is safe, wholesome and correctly labeled and packaged under the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Poultry Products Inspection Act.

Congress amended the FDCA in 2011 through passage of the Food Safety Modernization Act (“FSMA”), which greatly expanded FDA’s regulatory obligations over all actors in the supply chain. Industry actors continue to determine the best pathways to implement FSMA’s regulatory mandates and FDA’s promulgating regulations throughout supply chains, as most requirements are now in effect. Such regulations mandate that risk-based preventive controls be observed by the majority of food producers. This authority applies to all domestic food facilities and, by way of imported food supplier verification requirements, to all foreign facilities that supply food products.

 

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The FDA also exercises broad jurisdiction over the labeling and promotion of food. Labeling is a broad concept that, under certain circumstances, extends even to product-related claims and representations made on a company’s website or similar printed or graphic medium. All foods, including dietary supplements, must bear labeling that provides consumers with essential information with respect to standards of identity, net quantity, nutrition facts labeling, ingredient statement, allergen disclosures. FDA also regulates the use of structure/function claims, health claims and nutrient content claims. Additional in-store labeling requirements, such as disclosure of calories and other nutrient information for frequently sold items are scheduled to go into effect in 2018. In addition, compliance dates on various nutrition initiatives that will impact many actors in our supply chain, such as in relation to partially hydrogenated oils and new nutritional labeling guidelines, are scheduled to go into effect beginning 2018 and scheduled into 2021.

USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (“AMS”) oversees compliance with the National Organic Standards Program and related labeling activity. In addition, AMS has responsibility for newly enacted requirements surrounding the disclosure of the presence of bioengineered ingredients in food, scheduled to go into effect beginning in 2020.

Dietary Supplements. The FDA has comprehensive authority to regulate the safety of dietary supplements, dietary ingredients, labeling and current good manufacturing practices. Congress amended the FDCA in 1994 through passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (“DSHEA”), which greatly expanded FDA’s regulatory authority over dietary supplements. Through DSHEA, dietary supplements became its own regulated commodity while also allowing structure/function claims on products. However, no statement on a dietary supplement may expressly or implicitly represent that it will diagnose, cure, mitigate, treat or prevent a disease.

Food and Dietary Supplement Advertising. The FTC exercises jurisdiction over the advertising of foods and dietary supplements. The FTC has the power to institute monetary sanctions and the imposition of consent decrees and penalties that can severely limit a company’s business practices. In recent years, the FTC has instituted numerous enforcement actions against dietary supplement companies for failure to have adequate substantiation for claims made in advertising or for the use of false or misleading advertising claims.

Compliance. As is common in our industry, we rely on our suppliers and contract manufacturers to ensure that the products they manufacture and sell to us comply with all applicable regulatory and legislative requirements. In general, we seek certifications of compliance, representations and warranties, indemnification and/or insurance from our suppliers and contract manufacturers. However, even with adequate insurance and indemnification, any claims of non-compliance could significantly damage our reputation and consumer confidence in products we sell. In addition, the failure of such products to comply with applicable regulatory and legislative requirements could prevent us from marketing the products or require us to recall or remove such products from our stores. In order to comply with applicable statutes and regulations, our suppliers and contract manufacturers have from time to time reformulated, eliminated or relabeled certain of their products and we have revised certain provisions of our sales and marketing program.

Employees

As of December 30, 2018, we had approximately 30,000 team members. None of our team members are subject to collective bargaining agreements. We consider our relations with our team members to be good, and we have never experienced a strike or significant work stoppage.

 

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Corporate Offices

Our principal executive offices are located at 5455 E. High Street, Suite 111, Phoenix, Arizona 85054. Our website address is www.sprouts.com. The information on or accessible through our website is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K or in any other report or document we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).

 

 

Certain factors may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below, together with all of the other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including our consolidated financial statements and related notes. Any of the following risks could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations, cash flows, financial condition, or prospects and cause the value of our common stock to decline.

Business and Operating Risks

Our continued growth depends on new store openings, and our failure to successfully open new stores could negatively impact our business.

Our continued growth depends, in large part, on our ability to open new stores and to operate those stores successfully. Successful implementation of this strategy depends upon a number of factors, including our ability to effectively achieve a level of cash flow or obtain necessary financing to support our expansion; find suitable sites for new store locations; negotiate and execute leases on acceptable terms; secure and manage the inventory necessary for the launch and operation of our new stores; hire, train and retain skilled team members; promote and market new stores; and address competitive merchandising, distribution and other challenges encountered in connection with expansion into new geographic areas and markets. Although we plan to expand our store base primarily through new store openings, we may grow through strategic acquisitions. Our ability to grow through strategic acquisitions will depend upon our ability to identify suitable targets and negotiate acceptable terms and conditions for their acquisition, as well as our ability to obtain financing for such acquisitions, integrate the acquired stores into our existing store base and retain the customers of such stores. If we are ineffective in performing these activities, then our efforts to open and operate new stores may be unsuccessful or unprofitable, and we may be unable to execute our growth strategy.

We opened 30 and 32 stores in fiscal 2018 and 2017, respectively, and we currently expect to open approximately 30 new stores annually over the near term. However, we cannot assure you that we will achieve this expected level of new store growth. We may not have the level of cash flow or financing necessary to support our growth strategy. Additionally, our proposed expansion will place increased demands on our operational, managerial and administrative resources. These increased demands could cause us to operate our existing business less effectively, which in turn could cause deterioration in the financial performance of our existing stores. Further, new store openings in markets where we have existing stores may result in reduced sales volumes at our existing stores in those markets. If we experience a decline in performance, we may slow or discontinue store openings, or we may decide to close stores that we are unable to operate in a profitable manner. If we fail to successfully implement our growth strategy, including by opening new stores, our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows may be adversely affected.

 

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We may be unable to maintain or increase comparable store sales, which could negatively impact our business and stock price.

We may not be able to maintain or improve the levels of comparable store sales that we have experienced in the past. Our comparable store sales growth could be lower than our historical average for many reasons, including:

These factors may cause our comparable store sales results to be materially lower than in recent periods, which could harm our business and result in a decline in the price of our common stock.

Disruption of significant supplier relationships could negatively affect our business.

KeHE is our primary supplier of dry grocery and frozen food products, accounting for approximately 34% of our total purchases in each of fiscal 2018 and 2017. Our current primary contractual relationship with KeHE continues through July 18, 2025 and provides that KeHE will be our primary supplier for all of our stores. Due to this concentration of purchases from a single third-party supplier, the cancellation of our distribution arrangement or the disruption, delay or inability of KeHE to deliver product to our stores in quantities that meet our requirements may materially and adversely affect our operating results while we establish alternative supply chain channels. Another 4% of our total purchases in each of fiscal 2018 and 2017 were made through our secondary supplier, UNFI. Our current contractual relationship with UNFI continues through September 30, 2021. There is no assurance UNFI or other distributors will be able to fulfill our needs on favorable terms or at all. In addition, if KeHE, UNFI or any of our other suppliers fail to comply with food safety, labeling or other laws and regulations, or face allegations of non-compliance, their operations may be disrupted. Further, the food distribution and manufacturing industries are dynamic.  Consolidation of distributors or the manufacturers that supply them could reduce our supply options and detrimentally impact the terms under which we purchase products. We cannot assure you that we would be able to find replacement suppliers on commercially reasonable terms, which would have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

 

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Any significant interruption in the operations of our distribution centers or supply chain network could disrupt our ability to deliver our produce and other products in a timely manner.

We self-distribute our produce through our two distribution centers located in Arizona and Texas and three third-party distribution centers, with two located in California and one located in Georgia. Any significant interruption in the operation of our distribution center infrastructure, such as disruptions due to fire, severe weather or other catastrophic events, power outages, labor shortages or disagreements, shipping or infrastructure problems, food safety concerns or contractual disputes with third-party service providers could adversely impact our ability to distribute produce to our stores. Such interruptions could result in lost sales and a loss of customer loyalty to our brand, as well as increased costs from third-party service providers. While we maintain business interruption and property insurance, if the operation of our distribution centers were interrupted for any reason, causing delays in shipment of produce to our stores, our insurance may not be sufficient to cover losses we experience, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

In addition, unexpected delays in deliveries from vendors that ship directly to our stores or increases in transportation costs (including through increased fuel costs) could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Labor shortages, work stoppages or wage increases in the transportation or other industries, long-term disruptions to the national and international transportation infrastructure, reduction in capacity and industry-specific regulations such as hours-of-service rules that lead to delays or interruptions of deliveries or increased costs could negatively affect our business.

Disruptions to, or security breaches involving, our information technology systems could harm our ability to run our business.

We rely extensively on information technology systems for point of sale processing in our stores, supply chain, financial reporting, human resources and various other processes and transactions. Our information technology systems are subject to damage or interruption from power outages, computer and telecommunications failures, computer viruses, security breaches, including breaches of our transaction processing or other systems that could result in the compromise of confidential customer or team member data, catastrophic events, and usage errors by our team members. In March 2016, an email “phishing” scam was perpetrated against one of our team members, who inadvertently disclosed 2015 W-2 statements of our team members to an unauthorized third party purporting to be one of our executive officers. We worked with the FBI and the IRS to investigate this crime and to determine the best ways to protect team member tax information, and offered credit monitoring services to impacted team members. As described under “Legal Proceedings,” we are subject to a number of complaints related to this scam, each on behalf of a purported class of our current and former team members whose personally identifiable information was inadvertently disclosed; these matters are covered by our cyber insurance, subject to applicable deductibles. We have implemented numerous additional security protocols in order to further tighten security and continue to maintain a customary cyber insurance policy, but there can be no assurance similar breaches will not occur in the future, be detected in a timely manner or be covered by our insurance policy.

Our information technology systems may also fail to perform as we anticipate, and we may encounter difficulties in implementing new systems, adapting these systems to changing technologies or expanding them to meet the future needs and growth of our business. If our systems are improperly implemented, breached, damaged or cease to function properly, we may have to make significant investments to fix or replace them; suffer interruptions in our operations; experience data loss; incur liability to our customers, team members and others; face costly litigation, enforcement actions and penalties; and our reputation with our customers may be harmed. Various third parties, such as our suppliers and payment processors, also rely heavily on information technology systems, and any failure of these systems could also cause loss of sales, transactional or other data and significant interruptions to our business. Any security breach or other material interruption in the information technology systems we rely on may have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.

 

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If we are unable to successfully identify market trends and react to changing consumer preferences in a timely manner, our sales may decrease.

We believe our success depends, in substantial part, on our ability to:

Consumer preferences often change rapidly and without warning, moving from one trend to another among many product or retail concepts. Our performance is impacted by trends regarding healthy lifestyles, dietary preferences, convenient options, natural and organic products, meal solutions, ingredient transparency and sustainability, and vitamins and supplements, as well as new and evolving methods of engaging with and delivering our products to our customers. Consumer preferences towards vitamins, supplements or natural and organic food products might shift as a result of, among other things, economic conditions, food safety perceptions, scientific research or findings regarding the benefits or efficacy of such products, national media attention and the cost or sustainability of these products. Our store offerings currently include natural and organic products and dietary supplements. A change in consumer preferences away from our offerings would have a material adverse effect on our business. Additionally, negative publicity over the safety, efficacy or benefits of any such items may adversely affect demand for our products, and could result in lower customer traffic, sales, results of operations and cash flows.

If we are unable to anticipate and satisfy consumer preferences in the regions where we operate with respect to product offerings and customer engagement options, our sales may decrease, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Our newly opened stores may negatively impact our financial results in the short-term, and may not achieve sales and operating levels consistent with our more mature stores on a timely basis or at all.

We have actively pursued new store growth and plan to continue doing so in the future. We cannot assure you that our new store openings will be successful or reach the sales and profitability levels of our existing stores. New store openings may negatively impact our financial results in the short-term due to the effect of store opening costs and lower sales and contribution to overall profitability during the initial period following opening. New stores build their sales volume and their customer base over time and, as a result, generally have lower margins and higher operating expenses, as a percentage of net sales, than our more mature stores. New stores may not achieve sustained sales and operating levels consistent with our more mature store base on a timely basis or at all. This may have an adverse effect on our financial condition and operating results.

On many of our projects, we have received landlord contributions for leasehold improvements and other build-out costs. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to continue to receive landlord contributions at the same levels or at all. Any reductions of landlord contributions could have an adverse impact on our new store cash-on-cash returns and our operating results.

 

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In addition, we may not be able to successfully integrate new stores into our existing store base and those new stores may not be as profitable as our existing stores. Further, we have experienced in the past, and expect to experience in the future, some sales volume transfer from our existing stores to our new stores as some of our existing customers switch to new, closer locations. If our new stores are less profitable than our existing stores, or if we experience sales volume transfer from our existing stores, our financial condition and operating results may be adversely affected.

We may be unable to maintain or improve our operating margins, which could adversely affect our financial condition and ability to grow.

If we are unable to successfully manage the potential difficulties associated with store growth, we may not be able to capture the efficiencies of scale that we expect from expansion. If we are not able to continue to capture efficiencies of scale, improve our systems, continue our cost discipline, and maintain appropriate store labor levels and disciplined product selection, our operating margins may stagnate or decline. In addition, competition and pricing pressures from competitors may also adversely impact our operating margins. Both our inability to capture the efficiencies from scale and competition could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows and adversely affect the price of our common stock.

Real or perceived concerns that products we sell could cause unexpected side effects, illness, injury or death could result in their discontinuance or expose us to lawsuits, either of which could result in unexpected costs and damage to our reputation.

There is increasing governmental scrutiny of and public awareness regarding food safety. Unexpected side effects, illness, injury, or death caused by products we prepare and/or sell or involving vendors that supply us with products or provide us with services could result in the discontinuance of sales of these products or our relationship with such vendors or prevent us from achieving market acceptance of the affected products. Such side effects, illnesses, injuries and death could also expose us to severe damage to our reputation and product liability or negligence lawsuits. Any claims brought against us may exceed our existing or future insurance policy coverage or limits. Any judgment against us that is in excess of our policy limits would have to be paid from our cash reserves, which would reduce our capital resources. Further, we may not have sufficient capital resources to pay a judgment, in which case our creditors could levy against our assets.

As a fresh, natural and organic retailer, we believe that many customers choose to shop our stores because of their interest in health, nutrition and food safety. As a result, we believe that our customers hold us to a high food safety standard. Therefore, real or perceived quality or food safety concerns, whether or not ultimately based on fact, and whether or not involving products prepared and/or sold at our stores or vendors that supply us with products or provide us with services, would cause negative publicity and lost confidence regarding our company, brand, or products, which could in turn harm our reputation and net sales, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.

If we fail to maintain our reputation and the value of our brand, our sales may decline.

We believe our continued success depends on our ability to maintain and grow the value of the Sprouts brand. Maintaining, promoting and positioning our brand and reputation will depend largely on the success of our marketing and merchandising efforts and our ability to provide a consistent, high-quality customer experience. Brand value is based in large part on perceptions of subjective qualities, and even isolated incidents involving our company, our team members, suppliers, agents or third-party service providers, or the products we sell can erode trust and confidence, particularly if they involve our private label products, or result in adverse publicity, governmental investigations or litigation. Our brand could be adversely affected if we fail to achieve these objectives, or if our public image or reputation were to be tarnished by negative publicity.

 

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If we do not successfully manage the transition associated with the resignation of our former chief executive officer and the appointment of a new chief executive officer, it could have an adverse impact on our business.

Amin Maredia resigned from his position as our company’s chief executive officer (“CEO”) and resigned from our board of directors to pursue other interests, effective December 30, 2018. Our board appointed Brad Lukow, our chief financial officer, and Jim Nielsen, our president and chief operating officer, as interim co-chief executive officers until a permanent successor has been named. Our board has an active search process underway to select the next CEO from internal and external candidates. Although our board is confident in the interim leadership of Messrs. Lukow and Nielsen, leadership transitions can be inherently difficult to manage, and an inadequate transition to a permanent CEO may cause disruption to our business. In addition, if we are unable to attract and retain a qualified candidate to become our permanent CEO in a timely manner, our ability to meet our financial and operational goals and strategic plans may be adversely impacted, as well as our financial performance. This may also make it more difficult for us to retain and hire key management and other team members.

The loss of key management could negatively affect our business.

We are dependent upon a number of key management and other team members. If we were to lose the services of a significant number of key team members within a short period of time, this could have a material adverse effect on our operations as we may not be able to find suitable individuals to replace them on a timely basis, if at all. In addition, any such departure could be viewed in a negative light by investors and analysts, which may cause our stock price to decline. We do not maintain key person insurance on any team member.

If we are unable to attract, train and retain team members, we may not be able to grow or successfully operate our business.

The food retail industry is labor intensive. Our continued success is dependent upon our ability to attract and retain qualified team members in our stores and at our regional and store support offices who understand and appreciate our culture and are able to represent our brand effectively and establish credibility with our business partners and consumers. We face intense competition for qualified team members, many of whom are subject to offers from competing employers. Our ability to meet our labor needs, while controlling wage and labor-related costs, is subject to numerous external factors, including the availability of a sufficient number of qualified persons in the work force in the markets in which we are located, unemployment levels within those markets, unionization of the available work force, prevailing wage rates, changing demographics, health and other insurance costs and changes in employment legislation. In the event of increasing wage rates, if we fail to increase our wages competitively, the quality of our workforce could decline, causing our customer engagement to suffer, while increasing our wages could cause our earnings to decrease. If we are unable to hire and retain team members capable of meeting our business needs and expectations, our business and brand image may be impaired. Any failure to meet our staffing needs or any material increase in turnover rates of our team members or team member wages may adversely affect our business, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.

Union attempts to organize our team members could negatively affect our business.

None of our team members are currently subject to a collective bargaining agreement. As we continue to grow and enter different regions, unions may attempt to organize all or part of our team member base at certain stores or within certain regions. Responding to such organization attempts may distract management and team members and may have a negative financial impact on individual stores, or on our business as a whole.

 

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Higher wage and benefit costs could adversely affect our business.

Changes in federal and state minimum wage laws and other laws relating to employee benefits, including the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (or its successor or replacement), could cause us to incur additional wage and benefit costs, as well as increased contractual costs associated with our service providers. Increased labor costs brought about by changes in minimum wage laws, other regulations or prevailing market conditions would increase our expenses and have an adverse impact on our profitability.

Our lease obligations could adversely affect our financial performance and may require us to continue paying rent for store locations that we no longer operate.

We are subject to risks associated with our current and future store, distribution center and administrative office real estate leases. Our high level of fixed lease obligations will require us to use a portion of cash generated by our operations to satisfy these obligations, and could adversely impact our ability to obtain future financing, if required, to support our growth or other operational investments. We will require substantial cash flows from operations to make our payments under our operating leases, all of which provide for periodic increases in rent. If we are not able to make the required payments under the leases, the lenders or owners of the relevant stores, distribution centers or administrative offices may, among other things, repossess those assets, which could adversely affect our ability to conduct our operations. In addition, our failure to make payments under our operating leases could trigger defaults under other leases or under agreements governing our indebtedness, which could cause the counterparties under those agreements to accelerate the obligations due thereunder.

Further, we generally cannot cancel our leases, so if we decide to close or relocate a location, we may nonetheless be committed to perform our obligations under the applicable lease, including paying the base rent for the remaining lease term. In addition, as our leases expire, we may fail to negotiate renewals, either on commercially acceptable terms or any terms at all, which could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.

Claims under our insurance plans may differ from our estimates, which could materially impact our results of operations.

We use a combination of insurance and self-insurance plans to provide for the potential liabilities for workers’ compensation, general liability (including, in connection with legal proceedings described under “—Legal proceedings could materially impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows” below), property insurance, director and officers’ liability insurance, vehicle liability and team member health-care benefits. Liabilities associated with the risks that are retained by us are estimated, in part, by considering historical claims experience, demographic factors, severity factors and other actuarial assumptions. Our results could be materially impacted by claims and other expenses related to such plans if future occurrences and claims differ from these assumptions and historical trends.

We may be unable to generate sufficient cash flow to satisfy our debt service obligations, which could adversely impact our business.

As of December 30, 2018, we had outstanding indebtedness of $453.0 million under our credit agreement (referred to as the “Amended and Restated Credit Agreement”). We may incur additional indebtedness in the future, including borrowings under our Amended and Restated Credit Agreement. Our indebtedness, any additional indebtedness we may incur, or any hedging arrangements related to such indebtedness could require us to divert funds identified for other purposes for debt service and impair our liquidity position. If we cannot generate sufficient cash flow from operations to service our debt, we may need to refinance our debt, dispose of assets or issue equity to obtain necessary funds. We do not know whether we will be able to take any of such actions on a timely basis, on terms satisfactory to us or at all.

 

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The fact that a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations could be needed to make payments on this indebtedness could have important consequences, including the following:

Our ability to obtain necessary funds through borrowing will depend on our ability to generate cash flow from operations. Our ability to generate cash is subject to general economic, financial, competitive, legislative, regulatory, and other factors that are beyond our control. If our business does not generate sufficient cash flow from operations or if future borrowings are not available to us under our Amended and Restated Credit Agreement or otherwise in amounts sufficient to enable us to fund our liquidity needs, our operating results and financial condition may be adversely affected. Our inability to make scheduled payments on our debt obligations in the future would require us to refinance all or a portion of our indebtedness on or before maturity, sell assets, delay capital expenditures, or seek additional equity investment.

Covenants in our debt agreements restrict our operational flexibility.

Our Amended and Restated Credit Agreement contains usual and customary restrictive covenants relating to our management and the operation of our business, including the following:

Our Amended and Restated Credit Agreement also requires us to maintain a specified total net leverage ratio and minimum interest coverage ratio at the end of any fiscal quarter at any time the facility is drawn. Our ability to meet these ratios, if applicable, could be affected by events beyond our control. Failure to comply with any of the covenants under our Amended and Restated Credit Agreement could result in a default under the facility, which could cause our lenders to accelerate the timing of payments and exercise their lien on substantially all of our assets, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition.

 

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Market and Other External Risks

General economic conditions that impact consumer spending or result in competitive responses could adversely affect our business.

The retail food business is sensitive to changes in general economic conditions. Recessionary economic cycles, increases in interest rates, higher prices for commodities, fuel and other energy, inflation, high levels of unemployment and consumer debt, depressed home values, high tax rates, tariffs and other economic factors that affect consumer spending and confidence or buying habits may materially adversely affect the demand for products we sell in our stores. In recent years, the U.S. economy has experienced volatility due to uncertainties related to energy prices, credit availability, difficulties in the banking and financial services sectors, decreases in home values and retirement accounts, instability in foreign markets, high unemployment and falling consumer confidence. As a result, consumers are more cautious and could shift their spending to lower-priced competition, such as warehouse membership clubs, dollar stores or extreme value formats, which could have a material and adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition.

In addition, prolonged inflation or deflation can impact our business. Food deflation across multiple categories, particularly in produce, could reduce sales growth and earnings if our competitors react by lowering their retail pricing and expanding their promotional activities, which can lead to retail deflation higher than cost deflation that could reduce our sales, gross profit margins and comparable store sales. Food inflation, when combined with reduced consumer spending, could also reduce sales, gross profit margins and comparable store sales. As a result, our operating results and financial condition could be materially adversely affected.

Competition in our industry is intense, and our failure to compete successfully may adversely affect our revenues and profitability.

We operate in the highly competitive retail food industry. Our competitors include supermarkets, natural food stores, mass or discount retailers, warehouse membership clubs, online retailers and specialty stores, as well as restaurants and home delivery and home meal solution providers. These businesses compete with us for products, customers and locations. We compete on a combination of factors, primarily product selection, quality, convenience, customer engagement, store format, location, price and delivery options. Our success depends on our ability to offer products and services that appeal to our customers’ preferences, and our failure to offer such products or services could lead to a decrease in our sales. To the extent that our competitors lower prices, our ability to maintain profit margins and sales levels may be negatively impacted. In addition, some competitors are aggressively expanding their number of stores or their product offerings, increasing the space allocated to perishable, prepared and specialty foods, including fresh, natural and organic foods, and enhancing options of engaging with and delivering their products to customers. Some of these competitors may have been in business longer or may have greater financial or marketing resources than we do and may be able to devote greater resources to sourcing, promoting and selling their products. As competition in certain areas or platforms intensifies or competitors open stores or expand delivery options within close proximity to our stores, our results of operations and cash flows may be negatively impacted through a loss of sales, decrease in market share, reduction in margin from competitive price changes or greater operating costs.

 

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We rely heavily on sales of fresh produce and quality natural and organic products, and product supply disruptions may have an adverse effect on our profitability and operating results.

We have a significant focus on perishable products, including fresh produce and natural and organic products. Sales of produce accounted for approximately 23% of our net sales in both fiscal 2018 and 2017. Although we have not experienced difficulty to date in maintaining the supply of our produce and fresh, natural and organic products that meet our quality standards, there is no assurance that these products will be available to meet our needs in the future. The availability of such products at competitive prices depends on many factors beyond our control, including the number and size of farms that grow natural or organic crops or raise livestock that meet our quality, welfare and production standards, tariffs and import regulations or restrictions on foreign-sourced products and the ability of our vendors to maintain organic, non-genetically modified or other applicable third-party certifications for such products. Produce is also vulnerable to adverse weather conditions and natural disasters, such as floods, droughts, storms, frosts, wildfires, earthquakes, hurricanes, pestilences and other extreme or abnormal environmental conditions. Adverse weather conditions and natural disasters can lower crop yields and reduce crop size and quality, which in turn could reduce the available supply of, or increase the price of, fresh produce, which may adversely impact sales of our fresh produce and our other products that rely on produce as a key ingredient.

In addition, we and our suppliers compete with other food retailers in the procurement of fresh, natural and organic products, which are often less available than conventional products. If our competitors significantly increase their fresh, natural and organic product offerings due to increases in consumer demand or otherwise, we and our suppliers may not be able to obtain a sufficient supply of such products on favorable terms, or at all, and our sales may decrease, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. We could also suffer significant inventory losses in the event of disruption of our supply chain network or extended power outages in our distribution centers. If we are unable to maintain inventory levels suitable for our business needs, it would materially adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

The current geographic concentration of our stores creates an exposure to local or regional downturns or catastrophic occurrences.

As of December 30, 2018, we operated 114 stores in California, making California our largest market representing 36% of our total stores in fiscal 2018. We also have store concentration in Texas, Arizona and Colorado, operating 43, 39 and 32 stores in those states, respectively, and representing 14%, 12% and 10% of our total stores in fiscal 2018, respectively. In addition, we source a large portion of our produce from California, ranging from approximately 40% to approximately 70% depending on the time of year. As a result, our business is currently more susceptible to regional conditions than the operations of more geographically diversified competitors, and we are vulnerable to economic downturns in those regions. Any unforeseen events or circumstances that negatively affect these areas in which we have stores or from which we obtain products could materially adversely affect our revenues and profitability. These factors include, among other things, changes in demographics, population and employee bases; wage increases; changes in economic conditions; floods, prolonged droughts or other severe weather conditions; and other catastrophic occurrences, such as wildfires. Such conditions may result in reduced customer traffic and spending in our stores, physical damage to our stores, loss of inventory, closure of one or more of our stores, inadequate work force in our markets, temporary disruption in the supply of products, delays in the delivery of goods to our stores and a reduction in the availability of products in our stores. Any of these factors may disrupt our business and materially adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

 

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Fluctuations in commodity prices and availability may impact profitability.

Many products we sell include ingredients such as wheat, corn, oils, milk, sugar, cocoa, nuts and other key commodities. Many commodity prices are subject to significant fluctuations. Any increase in prices of such key ingredients may cause our vendors to seek price increases from us, and price decreases may result in our competitors reducing retail prices on items containing such ingredients. We cannot assure you that we will be able to mitigate vendor efforts to increase our costs or competitive responses to decreasing prices, either in whole or in part. In the event we are unable to continue mitigating potential vendor price increases, we may in turn consider raising our prices, and our customers may be deterred by any such price increases. In addition, we may lower our retail prices in response to lower commodity costs or competitive conditions.  Our profitability may be impacted either through increased costs to us or lower prices and loss of customers due to competitive conditions, which may impact gross margins, or through reduced revenue as a result of a decline in the number and average size of customer transactions.

Increases in certain costs affecting our marketing, advertising and promotions may adversely impact our ability to advertise effectively and reduce our profitability.

Postal rate increases, and increasing paper and printing costs affect the cost of our promotional mailings. In response to any future increase in mailing costs, we may consider reducing the number and size of certain promotional pieces. In addition, we rely on discounts from the basic postal rate structure, such as discounts for bulk mailings and sorting by zip code and carrier routes. We are not party to any long-term contracts for the supply of paper. Future increases in costs affecting our marketing, advertising and promotions could adversely impact our ability to advertise effectively and our profitability.

A widespread health epidemic could materially impact our business.

Our business could be severely impacted by a widespread regional, national or global health epidemic. A widespread health epidemic may cause customers to avoid public gathering places such as our stores or otherwise change their shopping behaviors. Additionally, a widespread health epidemic could also adversely impact our business by disrupting production and delivery of products to our stores and by impacting our ability to appropriately staff our stores.

We may require additional capital to fund the expansion of our business, and our inability to obtain such capital could harm our business.

To support our expanding business, we must have sufficient capital to continue to make significant investments in our new and existing stores and advertising. We cannot assure you that cash generated by our operations will be sufficient to allow us to fund such expansion. If cash flows from operations are not sufficient, we may need additional equity or debt financing to provide the funds required to expand our business. If such financing is not available on satisfactory terms or at all, we may be unable to expand our business or to develop new business at the rate desired and our operating results may suffer. Debt financing increases expenses, may contain covenants that restrict the operation of our business, and must be repaid regardless of operating results. Equity financing, or debt financing that is convertible into equity, could result in additional dilution to our existing stockholders.

Our inability to obtain adequate capital resources, whether in the form of equity or debt, to fund our business and growth strategies may require us to delay, scale back or eliminate some or all of our operations or the expansion of our business, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, financial condition or prospects.

 

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Increasing energy costs, unless offset by more efficient usage or other operational responses, may impact our profitability.

We utilize natural gas, water, sewer and electricity in our stores and use gasoline and diesel in trucks that deliver products to our stores. We may also be required to pay certain adjustments or other amounts pursuant to our supply and delivery contracts in connection with increases in fuel prices. Increases in energy costs, whether driven by increased demand, decreased or disrupted supply, increased environmental regulations or an anticipation of any such events will increase the costs of operating our stores. Our shipping costs also may increase if fuel and freight prices increase. We may not be able to recover these rising costs through increased prices charged to our customers, and any increased prices may exacerbate the risk of customers choosing lower-cost alternatives. In addition, if we are unsuccessful in attempts to protect against these increases in energy costs through long-term energy contracts, improved energy procurement, improved efficiency and other operational improvements, the overall costs of operating our stores will increase, which would impact our profitability, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Financial Reporting, Legal and Other Regulatory Risks

We, as well as our vendors, are subject to numerous laws and regulations and our compliance with these laws and regulations may increase our costs, limit or eliminate our ability to sell certain products, raise regulatory enforcement risks not present in the past, or otherwise adversely affect our business, reputation, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.

Enforcement. Both FDA and USDA have broad authority to enforce their applicable provisions relating to the safety, labeling, manufacturing and promotion of foods and dietary supplements, including powers to issue a public warning letter to a company, publicize information about illegal products, institute an administrative detention of food, request or order a recall of food from the market, and request the Department of Justice to initiate a seizure action, an injunction action or a criminal prosecution in the U.S. courts.

Dietary Supplement Risks. As a retailer of dietary supplements our sales of dietary supplements are regulated by FDA. However, other public and private actors are increasingly targeting dietary supplement retailers and manufacturers for selling products that fail to adhere to requirements under FDCA, as amended by DSHEA. While FDCA provides FDA with the authority to remove products from the market that are adulterated or misbranded, state actors, such as the New York Attorney General, and the Plaintiffs’ Bar have been targeting retailers and manufacturers of dietary supplements for failing to adhere to current good manufacturing practices and for false or misleading product statements.

Advertising and Product Claims Risks. In connection with the marketing and advertisement of products we sell, we could be the target of claims relating to false or deceptive advertising, including under the auspices of the FTC and the consumer protection statutes of some states. Furthermore, in recent years, the FDA has been aggressive in enforcing its regulations with respect to nutrient content claims (e.g., “low fat,” “good source of,” “calorie free,” etc.), unauthorized “health claims” (claims that characterize the relationship between a food or food ingredient and a disease or health condition), and other claims that impermissibly suggest therapeutic benefits for certain foods or food components. These events could interrupt the marketing and sales of products in our stores, including our private label products, severely damage our brand reputation and public image, increase the cost of products in our stores, result in product recalls or litigation, and impede our ability to deliver merchandise in sufficient quantities or quality to our stores, which could result in a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

 

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Our reputation could also suffer from real or perceived issues involving the labeling or marketing of products we sell as “natural.” Although the FDA and the USDA have each issued statements regarding the appropriate use of the word “natural,” and the FDA has requests for comment now pending on the issue, there is no single, U.S. government-regulated definition of the term “natural” for use in the food industry. The resulting uncertainty has led to consumer confusion, distrust and legal challenges. Plaintiffs have commenced legal actions against a number of food companies and retailers that market “natural” or similarly labeled products, asserting false, misleading and deceptive advertising and labeling claims, including claims related to genetically modified ingredients. Should we become subject to similar claims, consumers may avoid purchasing products from us or seek alternatives, even if the basis for the claim is unfounded. Adverse publicity about these matters may discourage consumers from buying our products. The cost of defending against any such claims could be significant. Any loss of confidence on the part of consumers in the truthfulness of our labeling or ingredient claims would be difficult and costly to overcome and may significantly reduce our brand value. Any of these events could adversely affect our reputation and brand and decrease our sales, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Organic and GMO Claims. We are also subject to the USDA’s Organic Rule, which facilitates interstate commerce and the marketing of organically produced food, and provides assurance to our customers that such products meet consistent, uniform standards. Compliance with the USDA’s Organic Rule also places a significant burden on some of our suppliers, which may cause a disruption in some of our product offerings. Additionally, the USDA has been directed, through legislation passed in July 2016, to promulgate regulations within two years requiring the disclosure of the presence of genetically modified ingredients in food. While it is uncertain whether USDA will meet the July 2018 statutory deadline, we along with our suppliers, will likely have one to three years to implement promulgating regulations.

FSMA Implementation Costs. FSMA directed an historic shift at FDA from the Agency reacting to and solving problems in the food supply chain to preventing contamination of food before it occurs. FSMA accomplished this goal by overhauling FDA’s current food safety program by requiring all actors in the food supply chain to expand their safety programs and record keeping processes. We predict that FSMA’s continued implementation and FDA’s own development in understanding effective ways to enforce FSMA provisions could delay the supply of certain products or result in certain products being unavailable to us for sale in our stores.

Third-Party Risks. As is common in our industry, we rely on our suppliers and contract manufacturers to ensure that the products they manufacture and sell to us comply with all applicable regulatory and legislative requirements. In general, we seek representations and warranties, indemnification and/or insurance from our suppliers and contract manufacturers. However, even with adequate insurance and indemnification, any claims of non-compliance could significantly damage our reputation and consumer confidence in products we sell. In addition, the failure of such products to comply with applicable regulatory and legislative requirements could prevent us from marketing the products or require us to recall or remove such products from our stores. In order to comply with applicable statutes and regulations, our suppliers and contract manufacturers have from time to time reformulated, eliminated or relabeled certain of their products and we have revised certain provisions of our sales and marketing program.

 

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We are also subject to laws and regulations more generally applicable to retailers. Compliance with or changes to such laws and regulations may increase our costs, limit or eliminate our ability to sell certain products or otherwise adversely affect our business, reputation, results of operations, financial condition or cash flows.

We are subject to laws and regulations more generally applicable to retailers, including labor and employment, taxation, zoning and land use, environmental protection, workplace safety, public health, community right-to-know and alcoholic beverage sales. Our stores are subject to unscheduled inspections on a regular basis, which, if violations are found, could result in the assessment of fines, suspension of one or more needed licenses and, in the case of repeated “critical” violations, closure of the store until a re-inspection demonstrates that we have remediated the problem. Further, our new store openings could be delayed or prevented, or our existing stores could be impacted by difficulties or failures in our ability to obtain or maintain required approvals or licenses. In addition, we are subject to environmental laws pursuant to which we could be held responsible for all of the costs or liabilities relating to any contamination at our or our predecessors’ past or present facilities and at third-party waste disposal sites, regardless of our knowledge of, or responsibility for, such contamination, and such costs may exceed our environmental liability insurance coverage.

As is common in our industry, we rely on our suppliers and contract manufacturers to ensure that the products they manufacture and sell to us comply with all applicable regulatory and legislative requirements. In general, we seek representations and warranties, indemnification and/or insurance from our suppliers and contract manufacturers. However, even with adequate insurance and indemnification, any claims of non-compliance could significantly damage our reputation and consumer confidence in our products. In order to comply with applicable statutes and regulations, our suppliers and contract manufacturers have from time to time reformulated, eliminated or relabeled certain of their products and we have revised certain provisions of our sales and marketing program.

We cannot predict the nature of future laws, regulations, interpretations or applications, or determine what effect either additional government regulations or executive or administrative orders, when and if promulgated, or disparate federal, state and local regulatory schemes would have on our business in the future. They could, however, increase our costs; result in our unintended misinterpretation or noncompliance; expose us to litigation; require the reformulation of certain products or alternative sourcing from domestic suppliers or otherwise to meet new standards, regulations or trade restrictions; require the recall or discontinuance of certain products not able to be reformulated or alternatively sourced in compliance with new regulations or restrictions; impose additional recordkeeping; expand documentation of the properties of certain products; necessitate expanded or different labeling and/or scientific substantiation. Any or all of such requirements could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Legal proceedings could materially impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Our operations, which are characterized by a high volume of customer traffic and by transactions involving a wide variety of product selections, carry a higher exposure to consumer litigation risk when compared to the operations of companies operating in some other industries. Consequently, we may be a party to individual personal injury, product liability, intellectual property, and other legal actions in the ordinary course of our business, including litigation arising from food-related illness or product labeling. In addition, our team members may, from time to time, bring lawsuits against us regarding injury, hostile work environment, discrimination, wage and hour disputes, sexual harassment, or other employment issues. In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of discrimination and harassment claims across the United States generally. The outcome of litigation, particularly class action lawsuits, is difficult to assess or quantify. Plaintiffs in these types of lawsuits may seek recovery of very large or indeterminate amounts, and the magnitude of the potential loss relating to such lawsuits may remain unknown for substantial periods of time. While we maintain insurance, insurance coverage may not be adequate, and the cost to defend against future litigation may be significant. There may also be adverse publicity associated with litigation that may decrease consumer confidence in or perceptions of our business, regardless of whether the allegations are valid or whether we are ultimately found liable. As a result, litigation may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

 

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We may be unable to adequately protect our intellectual property rights, which could harm our business.

We rely on a combination of trademark, trade secret, copyright and domain name law and internal procedures and nondisclosure agreements to protect our intellectual property. In particular, we believe our trademarks, including SPROUTS FARMERS MARKET^®, SPROUTS^® and HEALTHY LIVING FOR LESS!^®, and our domain names, including sprouts.com, are valuable assets. However, there can be no assurance that our intellectual property rights will be sufficient to distinguish our products and services from those of our competitors and to provide us with a competitive advantage. From time to time, third parties may use names and logos similar to ours, may apply to register trademarks or domain names similar to ours, and may infringe or otherwise violate our intellectual property rights. There can be no assurance that our intellectual property rights can be successfully asserted against such third parties or will not be invalidated, circumvented or challenged. Asserting or defending our intellectual property rights could be time consuming and costly and could distract management’s attention and resources. If we are unable to prevent our competitors from using names, logos and domain names similar to ours, consumer confusion could result, the perception of our brand and products could be negatively affected, and our sales and profitability could suffer as a result. We also license the SPROUTS FARMERS MARKETS trademark to a third party for use in operating two grocery stores. If the licensee fails to maintain the quality of the goods and services used in connection with this trademark, our rights to, and the value of, this and similar trademarks could potentially be harmed. Negative publicity relating to the licensee could also be incorrectly associated with us, which could harm the business. Failure to protect our proprietary information could also have a material adverse effect on our business.

We may also be subject to claims that our intellectual property, activities or the products we sell infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate the intellectual property rights of others. Any such claims can be time consuming and costly to defend and may distract management’s attention and resources, even if the claims are without merit. Such claims may also require us to enter into costly settlement or license agreements (which could, for example, prevent us from using our trademarks in certain geographies or in connection with certain products and services), pay costly damage awards, and face a temporary or permanent injunction prohibiting us from marketing or providing the affected products and services, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Changes in accounting standards may materially impact reporting of our financial condition and results of operations.

Accounting principles generally accepted in the United States and related accounting pronouncements, implementation guidelines, and interpretations for many aspects of our business, such as accounting for leases, inventories, goodwill and intangible assets, store closures, insurance, income taxes, share-based compensation and accounting for mergers and acquisitions and other special items, are complex and involve subjective judgments. Changes in these rules or their interpretation may necessitate changes to our financial statement presentation and significantly change or add significant volatility to our reported earnings without a comparable underlying change in cash flow from operations. As a result, changes in accounting standards may materially impact our reported financial condition and results of operations. For example, our adoption of ASC 842, Leases, effective in fiscal 2019 will impact our financial statement presentation and financial results in future periods.

If we are unable to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting in the future, we may fail to prevent or detect material misstatements in our financial statements, in which case investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports and the market price of our common stock may decline.

As a public company, we are required to maintain internal control over financial reporting. Pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, we are required to file a report by management on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, and our independent registered public accounting firm is required to attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting.

 

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If we are unable to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, if we identify any material weaknesses therein, if we are unsuccessful in our efforts to remediate any such material weakness, if our management is unable to report that our internal control over financial reporting is effective when required, or if our independent registered public accounting firm is unable to express an opinion as to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting when required, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports and the market price of our common stock could be negatively affected. In addition, we could become subject to investigations by the NASDAQ Global Select Market, the SEC, or other regulatory authorities, which could require additional financial and management resources.

If our goodwill or other intangible assets become impaired, we may be required to record a significant charge to earnings.

We have a significant amount of goodwill and other intangible assets. As of December 30, 2018, we had goodwill and intangible assets of approximately $368.1 million and $194.8 million, respectively, which represented approximately 22% and 12% of our total assets as of such date, respectively. Goodwill is reviewed for impairment on an annual basis in the fourth fiscal quarter or whenever events occur or circumstances change that would more likely than not reduce the fair value of our reporting unit below its carrying amount. Fair value is determined based on the discounted cash flows and the market value of our single reporting unit. If the fair value of the reporting unit is less than its carrying value, the fair value of the implied goodwill is calculated as the difference between the fair value of our reporting unit and the fair value of the underlying assets and liabilities, excluding goodwill. In the event an impairment to goodwill is identified, an immediate charge to earnings in an amount equal to the excess of the carrying value over the implied fair value would be recorded, which would adversely affect our operating results. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Critical Accounting Estimates—Goodwill and Intangible Assets.”

Determining market values using a discounted cash flow method requires that we make significant estimates and assumptions, including long-term projections of cash flows, market conditions and appropriate market rates. Our judgments are based on historical experience, current market trends and other information. In estimating future cash flows, we rely on internally generated forecasts for operating profits and cash flows, including capital expenditures. Based on our annual impairment test during fiscal 2016, 2017 and 2018, no goodwill impairment charge was required to be recorded. Changes in estimates of future cash flows caused by items such as unforeseen events or changes in market conditions could negatively affect our reporting unit’s fair value and result in an impairment charge. Factors that could cause us to change our estimates of future cash flows include a prolonged economic crisis, successful efforts by our competitors to gain market share in our core markets, our inability to compete effectively with other retailers or our inability to maintain price competitiveness. An impairment of a significant portion of our goodwill could materially adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Our nutrition-oriented educational activities may be impacted by government regulation or our inability to secure adequate liability insurance.

We provide nutrition-oriented education to our customers, and these activities may be subject to state and federal regulation and oversight by professional organizations or misconstrued by our customers as medical advice. In the past, the FDA has expressed concerns regarding summarized health and nutrition-related information that (i) does not, in the FDA’s view, accurately present such information, (ii) diverts a consumer’s attention and focus from FDA-required nutrition labeling and information or (iii) impermissibly promotes drug-type disease-related benefits. If our team members or third parties we engage to provide this information do not act in accordance with regulatory requirements, we may become subject to penalties or litigation that could have a material adverse effect on our business. We believe we are currently in compliance with relevant regulatory requirements. However, we cannot predict the nature of future government regulation and oversight, including the potential impact of any such regulation on this activity. Furthermore, the availability of professional liability insurance or the scope of such coverage may change, or our insurance coverage may prove inadequate, which may adversely impact the ability of our customer educators to provide some information to our customers. The occurrence of any such developments could negatively impact the perception of our brand, our sales and our ability to attract new customers.

 

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Common Stock Ownership Risks

Our stock price may be volatile, and you may not be able to resell your shares at or above the price you paid for them or at all.

There is no guarantee that our common stock will appreciate in value or even maintain the price at which our stockholders have purchased their shares. The trading price of our common stock may be volatile and subject to wide price fluctuations in response to various factors, many of which are beyond our control, including the following:

Furthermore, the stock markets have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have affected and continue to affect the market prices of equity securities of many companies. These fluctuations often have been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. These and other factors may cause the market price and demand for our common stock to fluctuate substantially, which may limit or prevent investors from readily selling their shares of common stock and may otherwise negatively affect the price or liquidity of our common stock. In addition, in the past, when the market price of a stock has been volatile, holders of that stock have sometimes instituted securities class action litigation against the company that issued the stock. If any of our stockholders were to bring a lawsuit against us, we could incur substantial costs defending the lawsuit or paying for settlements or damages. Such a lawsuit could also divert the time and attention of our management from our business.

 

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Anti-takeover provisions could impair a takeover attempt and adversely affect existing stockholders.

Certain provisions of our certificate of incorporation and bylaws and applicable provisions of Delaware law may have the effect of rendering more difficult, delaying, or preventing an acquisition of our company, even when this would be in the best interest of our stockholders. Our corporate governance documents include the following provisions:

In addition, Delaware law imposes conditions on the voting of “control shares” and on certain business combination transactions with “interested stockholders.”

These provisions, alone or together, could delay or prevent hostile takeovers and changes in control or changes in our management. Any provision of our certificate of incorporation or bylaws or Delaware law that has the effect of delaying or deterring a change in control could limit the opportunity for our stockholders to receive a premium for their shares of our common stock, and could also affect the price that some investors are willing to pay for our common stock.

If securities or industry analysts cease publishing research or reports about us, our business, or our market, or if they adversely change their recommendations regarding our stock, our stock price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our common stock is influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts may publish about us, our business, our market or our competitors. If we do not maintain adequate research coverage, or if any of the analysts who may cover us downgrade our stock or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business or provide relatively more favorable recommendations about our competitors, our stock price could decline. If any analyst who may cover us were to cease coverage of our company or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.

 

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Since we do not expect to pay any cash dividends for the foreseeable future, investors may be forced to sell their stock in order to obtain a return on their investment.

We do not anticipate declaring or paying in the foreseeable future any cash dividends on our capital stock. Instead, we plan to retain any earnings to finance our operations and growth plans. In addition, our Amended and Restated Credit Agreement contains covenants that would restrict our ability to pay cash dividends. Accordingly, investors must rely on sales of their common stock after price appreciation, which may never occur, as the only way to realize any return on their investment. As a result, investors seeking cash dividends should not purchase our common stock.

Our business could be impacted as a result of actions by activist stockholders or others.

We may be subject, from time to time, to legal and business challenges in the operation of our company due to actions instituted by activist shareholders or others. Responding to such actions, which may include private engagement, publicity campaigns, proxy contests, efforts to force transactions not supported by our board of directors, and litigation, could be costly and time-consuming, may not align with our strategic plan and could divert the time and attention of our board of directors and management from our business. Perceived uncertainties as to our future direction as a result of stockholder activism may lead to the perception of a change in the direction of the business or other instability and may affect our stock price, relationships with vendors, customers, prospective and current team members and others.

None.

 

 

As of December 30, 2018, we had 313 stores located in nineteen states, as shown in the chart below:

 

 

In fiscal 2017 we opened 32 new stores. In fiscal 2018, we opened 30 new stores and closed two underperforming stores. Through February 18, 2019, we have opened five stores in fiscal 2019, bringing our total store count to 318.

We lease all of our stores from unaffiliated third parties. A typical store lease is for an initial 10 to 15 year term with four renewal options of five years each. We expect that we will be able to renegotiate these leases or relocate these stores as necessary. In addition to new store openings, we remodel or relocate stores periodically in order to improve performance.

 

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As of December 30, 2018, we utilized five distribution centers. Information about such facilities, as well as our current corporate office in Phoenix, Arizona, is set forth in the table below:

 

 

We believe our portfolio of long-term leases is a valuable asset supporting our retail operations, but we do not believe that any individual store property is material to our financial condition or results of operations.

From time to time we are a party to legal proceedings, including matters involving personnel and employment issues, product liability, personal injury, intellectual property and other proceedings arising in the ordinary course of business, which have not resulted in any material losses to date. Although management does not expect that the outcome in these proceedings will have a material adverse effect on our financial condition or results of operations, litigation is inherently unpredictable. Therefore, we could incur judgments or enter into settlements of claims that could materially impact our results.

Securities Action

On March 4, 2016, a complaint was filed in the Superior Court for the State of Arizona against our company and certain of our directors and officers on behalf of a purported class of purchasers of shares of our common stock in our underwritten secondary public offering which closed on March 10, 2015 (the “March 2015 Offering”). The complaint purports to state claims under Sections 11, 12 and 15 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, based on an alleged failure by our company to disclose adequate information about produce price deflation in the March 2015 Offering documents. The complaint seeks damages on behalf of the purported class in an unspecified amount, rescission, and an award of reasonable costs and attorneys’ fees. After removal to federal court, the plaintiff sought remand, which the court granted in March 2017.  On May 25, 2017, our company filed a Motion to Dismiss in the Superior Court for the State of Arizona, which the court granted in part and denied in part by order entered August 30, 2017.  On August 4, 2018, we reached an agreement in principle to settle these claims. The parties’ settlement agreement was granted preliminary approval by the court on January 30, 2019, with a hearing for final approval scheduled for May 31, 2019. If approved by the court, the settlement will be funded from our directors and officers liability insurance policy and will not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

 

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“Phishing” Scam Actions

In April 2016, four complaints were filed, two in the federal courts of California, one in the Superior Court of California and one in the federal court in the District of Colorado, each on behalf of a purported class of our current and former team members whose personally identifiable information (“PII”) was inadvertently disclosed to an unauthorized third party that perpetrated an email “phishing” scam against one of our team members. The complaints allege we failed to properly safeguard the PII in accordance with applicable law.  The complaints seek damages on behalf of the purported class in unspecified amounts, attorneys’ fees and litigation expenses. In June 2016, a motion was filed before the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (“JPML”) to transfer and consolidate all four of the cases to the federal court in the District of Arizona. The JPML granted the motion on October 6, 2016. On May 24, 2017, the JPML granted our motion to stay proceedings in the case pending a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the question of whether arbitration agreements like those signed by each of the named plaintiffs are enforceable. On May 21, 2018, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis and upheld enforceability of arbitration agreements containing class action waivers, like the ones the named plaintiffs signed in this matter. We are currently working with plaintiffs’ counsel and the District of Arizona on a plan to remand three of the four filed cases back to their original courts.  We also expect plaintiffs’ counsel to file an amended complaint in February 2019. Following receipt of the amended complaint, we will file a motion to compel arbitration of the matters. We intend to defend these cases vigorously, but it is not possible at this time to reasonably estimate the outcome of, or any potential liability from, the cases.

Proposition 65 Coffee Action

On April 13, 2010, an organization named Council for Education and Research on Toxics (“CERT”) filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles, against nearly 80 defendants who manufacture, package, distribute or sell brewed coffee, including Sprouts. CERT alleges that the defendants failed to provide warnings for their coffee products of exposure to the chemical acrylamide as required under California Health and Safety Code section 25249.5, the California Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, better known as Proposition 65. CERT seeks equitable relief, including providing warnings to consumers of coffee products, as well as civil penalties.

Our company, as part of a joint defense group, asserted multiple defenses against the lawsuit. On May 7, 2018, the trial court issued a ruling adverse to defendants on these defenses to liability. On June 15, 2018, before the court tried damages, remedies and attorneys' fees, California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (“OEHHA”) published a proposal to amend Proposition 65’s implementing regulations by adding a stand-alone sentence that reads as follows: “Exposures to listed chemicals in coffee created by and inherent in the processes of roasting coffee beans or brewing coffee do not pose a significant risk of cancer.” OEHHA submitted the proposed regulation to California’s Office of Administrative Law, and expects that the proposed regulation, if finalized, could be effective as early as April 2019. The joint defense group sought a stay of the lawsuit pending resolution of OEHHA’s rulemaking, and a temporary stay order was granted by the Court of Appeal of the State of California on October 12, 2018 and continued on January 31, 2019, until further order.

At this stage of the proceedings, prior to a trial on the remedies issues, Sprouts is unable to predict or reasonably estimate the potential loss or effect on our company or our operations. Accordingly, no loss contingency was recorded for this matter. If the proposed regulation is not adopted, or the court determines that it does not apply to this case, the trial court has discretion to impose zero penalties against our company or to impose significant statutory penalties. Significant labeling or warning requirements that could potentially be imposed by the trial court may increase our costs and adversely affect sales of our coffee products. Furthermore, a future appellate court decision could reverse the trial court rulings. The outcome and the financial impact of settlement or the trial or appellate court rulings of the case to our company, if any, cannot be predicted.

Not applicable.

 

 

 

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PART II

Market Information

Our common stock began trading on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “SFM” on August 1, 2013. The number of stockholders of record of our common stock as of February 18, 2019 was 38. This number excludes stockholders whose stock is held in nominee or street name by brokers.

Dividend Policy

Since we became a publicly traded company on August 1, 2013, we have not declared or paid, and do not anticipate declaring or paying in the foreseeable future, any cash dividends on our capital stock. Any future determination as to the declaration and payment of dividends, if any, will be at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on then existing conditions, including our operating results, financial condition, contractual restrictions, capital requirements, business prospects, and other factors our board of directors may deem relevant. Our Amended and Restated Credit Agreement contains covenants that would restrict our ability to pay cash dividends.

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Share repurchase activity during the fourth fiscal quarter of 2018 was as follows:

 

 

Subsequent to the end of the year and through February 18, 2019, the Company has repurchased 0.9 million shares of common stock for a total investment of $20.3 million.

 

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Performance Graph

The graph set forth below compares the cumulative total stockholder return on our common stock between December 29, 2013 and December 30, 2018, with the cumulative total return of (i) the Nasdaq Composite Index and (ii) the S&P Food Retail Index, over the same period.

The comparison assumes that $100.00 was invested in our common stock, the Nasdaq Composite Index and the S&P Food Retail Index, and assumes reinvestment of dividends, if any. The graph assumes the initial value of our common stock on December 29, 2013 was the closing sale price on that day of $38.19 per share. The performance shown on the graph below is based on historical results and is not intended to suggest future performance.

 

 

This performance graph shall not be deemed “soliciting material” or to be “filed” with the SEC for purposes of Section 18 of the Exchange Act or otherwise subject to the liabilities under that section, and shall not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into any filing of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act.

 

 

 

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Set out below is selected financial data for and as of the end of fiscal 2014 through fiscal 2018.  In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018, we made a voluntary change in our accounting policy for the classification of certain expenses. Historically, we have presented occupancy costs and buying costs in cost of sales.  Under the new policy, we are presenting these expenses within selling, general and administrative expenses (“SG&A”). In addition, we reclassified depreciation and amortization (exclusive of supply chain-related depreciation included in cost of sales) from direct store expenses (“DSE”) and SG&A to a separate financial statement line item and combined DSE and store pre-opening costs with SG&A. These reclassifications had no impact on sales, income from operations, net income or earnings per share. In addition, there was no cumulative effect to retained earnings, equity, or net assets. We have applied these changes in presentation retrospectively to our consolidated statements of income for all periods presented in the table below (and elsewhere in this Annual Report).  See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Components of Operating Results” and Note 3, “Significant Accounting Policies”, to our Consolidated Financial Statements for more information.

 

 

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You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations together with the consolidated financial statements and related notes that are included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. This discussion contains forward-looking statements based upon current expectations that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including those set forth under “Risk Factors” or in other parts of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Please also see the section entitled “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”

Business Overview

Sprouts Farmers Market operates as a healthy grocery store that specializes in fresh, natural and organic products at prices that appeal to everyday grocery shoppers. Based on the belief that healthy food should be affordable, Sprouts’ welcoming environment and knowledgeable team members continue to drive its growth. Sprouts offers a complete grocery shopping experience that includes an array of fresh produce in the heart of the store, a deli with prepared entrees and side dishes, The Butcher Shop, The Fish Market, an expansive vitamins and supplements department and more. Since our founding in 2002, we have grown rapidly, significantly increasing our sales, store count and profitability. With 313 stores in 19 states as of December 30, 2018, we are one of the largest specialty retailers of fresh, natural and organic food in the United States. As of February 18, 2019, we have grown to 318 stores in 19 states.

At Sprouts, we believe healthy living is a journey and every meal is a choice. The cornerstones of our business are fresh, natural and organic products at compelling prices (which we refer to as “Healthy Living for Less”), an attractive and differentiated shopping experience featuring a broad selection of innovative healthy products, and knowledgeable team members who we believe provide best-in-class customer engagement and product education.

Our Heritage

In 2002, we opened the first Sprouts Farmers Market store in Chandler, Arizona. From our founding in 2002 through December 30, 2018, we have continued to open new stores while successfully rebranding 43 Henry’s Farmers Market and 39 Sunflower Farmers Market stores added in 2011 and 2012, respectively, through acquisitions to the Sprouts banner. These three businesses all trace their lineage back to Henry’s Farmers Market and were built with similar store formats and operations including a strong emphasis on value, produce and service in smaller, convenient locations. The consistency of these formats and operations was an important factor that allowed us to rapidly and successfully rebrand and integrate each of these businesses under the Sprouts banner and on a common platform.

Outlook

We are pursuing a number of strategies designed to continue our growth, including expansion of our store base, continuing positive comparable store sales and growing the Sprouts brand. We intend to continue expanding our store base by pursuing new store openings in our existing markets, expanding into adjacent markets and penetrating new markets. Although we plan to expand our store base primarily through new store openings, we may grow through strategic acquisitions if we identify suitable targets and are able to negotiate acceptable terms and conditions for acquisition. We expect to open approximately 30 new stores per year for the near term, and in 2019, we have opened five new stores through February 18, 2019.

 

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We also believe we can continue to deliver positive comparable store sales growth by enhancing our core value proposition and distinctive customer-oriented shopping experience, as well as through expanding and refining our fresh, natural and organic product offerings, our targeted and personalized marketing efforts and our in-store and digital customer engagement. We are committed to growing the Sprouts brand by supporting our stores, product offerings and corporate partnerships, including the expansion of innovative marketing and promotional strategies through print, digital and social media platforms.

Components of Operating Results

We report our results of operations on a 52- or 53-week fiscal year ending on the Sunday closest to December 31, with each fiscal quarter generally divided into three periods consisting of two four-week periods and one five-week period. Fiscal 2018 was a 52-week year ending on December 30, 2018. Fiscal 2017 was a 52-week year ending on December 31, 2017 and fiscal 2016 was a 52-week year ending on January 1, 2017.

In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018, we made a voluntary change in our accounting policy for the classification of certain expenses.  Historically, we have presented occupancy costs and buying costs in cost of goods sold.  Under the new policy, we are presenting these expenses within SG&A. In addition, we reclassified depreciation and amortization (exclusive of supply chain-related depreciation included in cost of sales) from DSE and SG&A to a separate financial statement line item and combined DSE and store pre-opening costs with SG&A. These reclassifications had no impact on sales, income from operations, net income or earnings per share. In addition, there was no cumulative effect to retained earnings, equity, or net assets. We made this voluntary change in accounting policy to better reflect the direct costs of acquiring products and making them available to our customers in cost of sales. Store occupancy costs and buying costs, which are largely sales and marketing driven, are more appropriately reflected in SG&A. The new presentation of operating expenses now largely disaggregates cash from non-cash operating expenses, which we believe provides better information to our financial statement users. We believe these changes are preferable because they enhance the comparability of our financial statements with those of many of our industry peers and aligns with how we internally manage and review costs and margin. As required by U.S. GAAP, we have applied these changes in presentation retrospectively to our consolidated statements of income for all periods presented in this Annual Report. See Note 3, “Significant Accounting Policies” to our Consolidated Financial Statements for more information.

Net Sales

We recognize sales revenue at the point of sale, with discounts provided to customers reflected as a reduction in sales revenue. Proceeds from sales of gift cards are recorded as a liability at the time of sale and recognized as sales when they are redeemed by the customer. In 2015, we determined that we had sufficient data to estimate gift card breakage. We do not include sales taxes in net sales.

We monitor our comparable store sales growth to evaluate and identify trends in our sales performance. Our practice is to include sales from a store in comparable store sales beginning on the first day of the 61st week following the store’s opening and to exclude sales from a closed store from comparable store sales on the day of closure. This practice may differ from the methods that other retailers use to calculate similar measures. We use comparable store sales to calculate pro forma comparable store sales growth, when applicable.

 

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Our net sales have increased as a result of new store openings and comparable store sales growth. Factors that influence comparable store sales growth and other sales trends include:

Cost of sales and gross profit

Cost of sales includes the cost of inventory sold during the period, including direct costs of purchased merchandise (net of discounts and allowances), distribution and supply chain costs and supplies. Cost of sales also includes depreciation and amortization expense for distribution centers and supply chain-related assets. Merchandise incentives received from vendors, which are reflected in the carrying value of inventory when earned or as progress is made toward earning the rebate or allowance, and are reflected as a component of cost of sales as the inventory is sold. Inflation and deflation in the prices of food and other products we sell may periodically affect our gross profit and gross margin. The short-term impact of inflation and deflation is largely dependent on whether or not we pass the effects through to our customers, which will depend upon competitive market conditions.

Our cost of sales and gross profit are correlated to sales volumes. As sales increase, gross margin is affected by the relative mix of products sold, pricing strategies, inventory shrinkage and improved leverage of fixed costs of sales.

Selling, general and administrative expenses

Selling, general and administrative expenses (“SG&A”) primarily consist of salaries, wages and benefits costs, share-based compensation, store occupancy costs (including rent, property taxes, utilities, common area maintenance and insurance), advertising costs, buying cost, pre-opening and other administrative costs.

Depreciation and Amortization

Depreciation and amortization (exclusive of depreciation included in cost of sales) primarily consists of depreciation and amortization for buildings, store leasehold improvements, and equipment.

 

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Store closure and other costs

We recognize a reserve for future operating lease payments associated with facilities that are no longer being utilized in our current operations. The reserve is recorded based on the present value of the remaining non-cancelable lease payments after the cease use date less an estimate of subtenant income. If subtenant income is expected to be higher than the lease payments, no accrual is recorded. Lease payments included in the closed store reserve are expected to be paid over the remaining terms of the respective leases. Our assumptions about subtenant income are based on our experience and knowledge of the area in which the closed property is located, guidance received from local brokers and agents and existing economic conditions. Adjustments to the closed store reserve relate primarily to changes in actual or estimated subtenant income and changes in actual lease payments from original estimates. Adjustments are made for changes in estimates in the period in which the change becomes known, considering timing of new information regarding market, subleases or other lease updates. Changes in closed store reserve estimates are classified as store closure and other costs in the consolidated statements of operations.  See Note 16, “Closed Store Reserves and Other Costs” for additional information.

Factors Affecting Comparability of Results of Operations

March 2018 Refinancing

In March 2018, we completed a transaction in which we refinanced our debt (referred to as the “March 2018 Refinancing”), as further discussed in “—Liquidity and Capital Resources” below. The March 2018 Refinancing resulted in increase in borrowings, a reduction in interest rate and the recording of a loss on early extinguishment of debt (see Note 12, “Long-Term Debt”).

Adoption of ASU No. 2016-09, “Compensation – Stock Compensation (Topic 718)”

As a result of the adoption, we recognized excess tax benefits related to the exercise of stock options in our income tax provision during fiscal 2017 (see Note 17, “Income Taxes”). Prior to the adoption, these items were recorded in Additional Paid-in Capital. During 2017, excess tax benefits were classified as an operating activity in the consolidated statement of cash flows, along with other income tax cash flows. Prior to adoption, excess tax benefits were classified as a financing activity. We have made a policy election to account for forfeitures as they occur. This election was adopted using a modified retrospective approach resulting in no cumulative effect on retained earnings at the beginning of the period. Prior to the adoption, forfeitures were accounted for using an estimated forfeiture rate.

2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

On December 22, 2017, the legislation commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“Tax Act”) was enacted into law, which changes various corporate income tax provisions within the existing Internal Revenue Code. Substantially all the provisions of the Tax Act are effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017. The most significant changes that impact our company are the reduction in the corporate federal income tax rate from 35% to 21% and 100% bonus depreciation for qualified property acquired and placed in service after September 27, 2017 and before January 1, 2023. In a manner consistent with Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 740-10-25-47, the effect of a change in tax law or rates shall be recognized at the date of enactment, accordingly, we accounted for the corporate federal income tax rate reduction in the fourth quarter of 2017 (see Note 17, “Income Taxes”).

 

 

 

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Results of Operations for Fiscal 2018, 2017 and 2016

The following tables set forth our results of operations and other operating data for the periods presented. The period-to-period comparison of financial results is not necessarily indicative of financial results to be achieved in future periods.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Comparison of Fiscal 2018 to Fiscal 2017

Net sales

 

 

Net sales during 2018 totaled $5.2 billion, increasing 12% over the prior fiscal year. Sales growth was primarily driven by solid performance in new stores opened in the last twelve months. Comparable stores contributed approximately 89% of total sales for 2018 and approximately 87% for the prior fiscal year.

Cost of sales and gross profit

 

 

Gross profit increased during 2018 compared to 2017 by $180.4 million to $1.7 billion, primarily driven by increased sales volume and strong performance in new stores opened.

Selling, general and administrative expenses

 

 

Selling, general, and administrative expenses increased $158.8 million or 13% as compared to 2017. This increase is primarily related to the 30 new stores which opened during 2018, as well as costs associated with a full year of operations for 2017 store openings.  As a percentage of net sales, selling, general and administrative expenses increased slightly reflecting our planned investments in team member wages, benefits and training as well as higher store occupancy costs, which was partially offset by a reduction in workers compensation and general liability insurance costs due to improved claims experience and lower payroll taxes as a result of the State of California repaying its federal unemployment insurance loan.  

Depreciation and amortization

 

 

 

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Depreciation and amortization expenses (exclusive of depreciation included in cost of sales) increased $13.9 million primarily related to new store growth as well as remodel initiatives in older vintages.

 

Store closure and other costs

 

 

Store closure and other costs in 2018 of $12.1 million includes non-cash charges of $8.0 million primarily related to lease termination obligations and asset disposals associated with the closure of two underperforming stores during the fourth quarter of 2018, as well as one-time severance expense of $3.6 million associated with the resignation of our former Chief Executive Officer. See Note 16, “Closed Store Reserves and Other Costs.”

Interest expense, net

 

 

The increase in interest expense is primarily related to the higher average balance outstanding under the Amended and Restated Credit Agreement primarily related to the Company’s share repurchase program. See Note 12, “Long-Term Debt” and Note 20, “Capital Stock.”

Income tax provision