UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

Form 10-Q

For the quarterly period ended April 2, 2022

OR

Commission File Number 1-6544

Sysco Corporation

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

1390 Enclave Parkway, Houston, Texas 77077-2099

(Address of principal executive offices and zip code)

Registrant’s Telephone Number, Including Area Code:

(281) 584-1390

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

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 þ 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 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes þ No ☐

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 þ

509,475,816 shares of common stock were outstanding as of April 22, 2022.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I – FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Sysco Corporation and its Consolidated Subsidiaries

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(In thousands, except for share data)

Note: The July 3, 2021 balance sheet has been derived from the audited financial statements at that date.

See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

Sysco Corporation and its Consolidated Subsidiaries

CONSOLIDATED RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (Unaudited)

(In thousands, except for share and per share data)

See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

Sysco Corporation and its Consolidated Subsidiaries

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (Unaudited)

(In thousands)

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This discussion should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements as of July 3, 2021, and for the fiscal year then ended, and Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, both contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended July 3, 2021 (our fiscal 2021 Form 10-K), as well as the consolidated financial statements (unaudited) and notes to the consolidated financial statements (unaudited) contained in this report.

Highlights

Our third quarter of fiscal 2022 results were strong, reflecting sequential sales growth improvements and accelerating market share gains. Our share gains in the U.S. and International segments continued to accelerate and demonstrated the impact of our Recipe for Growth strategy on our business. Additionally, our teams made significant improvements in operating expense leverage, with lower business recovery costs, good progress in our operations productivity performance efforts and continued re-investments to drive profitable growth. See below for a comparison of our fiscal 2022 results to our fiscal 2021 results, both including and excluding Certain Items (as defined below).

Comparisons of results from the third quarter of fiscal 2022 to the third quarter of fiscal 2021 are presented below:

• Sales:

◦increased 42.9%, or $5.1 billion, to $16.9 billion;

• Operating income:

◦increased 110.1%, or $259.8 million, to $495.7 million;

◦adjusted operating income increased 124.6%, or $319.2 million, to $575.4 million;

• Net earnings:

◦increased 241.1%, or $214.4 million, to $303.3 million;

◦adjusted net earnings increased 216.1%, or $248.1 million, to $362.9 million;

• Basic earnings per share:

◦increased 252.9%, or $0.43, to $0.60 per share;

• Diluted earnings per share:

◦increased 247.1%, or $0.42, to $0.59 per share;

◦adjusted diluted earnings per share increased 222.7%, or $0.49, to $0.71 in fiscal 2022;

• EBITDA:

◦increased 65.2%, or $277.6 million, to $703.3 million; and

◦adjusted EBITDA increased 72.8%, or $318.4 million, to $755.8 million.

Comparisons of results from the first 39 weeks of fiscal 2022 to the first 39 weeks of fiscal 2021 are presented below:

• Sales:

◦increased 41.3%, or $14.5 billion, to $49.7 billion;

• Operating income:

◦increased 81.2%, or $704.8 million, to $1.6 billion;

◦adjusted operating income increased 105.4%, or $901.2 million, to $1.8 billion;

• Net earnings:

◦increased 127.5%, or $475.7 million, to $848.8 million;

◦adjusted net earnings increased 189.9%, or $710.6 million, to $1.1 billion;

• Basic earnings per share:

◦increased 127.4%, or $0.93, to $1.66 per share;

• Diluted earnings per share:

◦increased 126.0%, or $0.92, to $1.65 per share; and

◦adjusted diluted earnings per share increased 189.0%, or $1.38, to $2.11 in fiscal 2022;

• EBITDA:

◦increased 52.5%, or $747.5 million, to $2.2 billion; and

◦adjusted EBITDA increased 65.9%, or $905.4 million, to $2.3 billion.

The discussion of our results includes certain non-GAAP financial measures, including EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA, that we believe provide important perspective with respect to underlying business trends. Other than free cash flow, any non-GAAP financial measures will be denoted as adjusted measures to remove the impact of restructuring and transformational project costs consisting of: (1) restructuring charges, (2) expenses associated with our various transformation initiatives and (3) facility closure and severance charges; acquisition-related costs consisting of: (1) intangible amortization expense and (2) acquisition costs and due diligence costs related to our acquisitions; and the reduction of bad debt expense previously recognized in fiscal 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the collectability of our pre-pandemic trade receivable balances. Our results for the first 39 weeks of fiscal 2022 were also impacted by (1) a write-down of COVID-related personal protection equipment inventory due to the reduction in the net realizable value of inventory (2) debt extinguishment costs and (3) the increase in reserves for uncertain tax positions. Our results for the first 39 weeks of fiscal 2021 were also impacted by losses on the sale of businesses.

The fiscal 2022 and fiscal 2021 items discussed above are collectively referred to as “Certain Items.” The results of our foreign operations can be impacted by changes in exchange rates applicable to converting from local currencies to U.S. dollars. We measure our total Sysco and our International Foodservice Operations results on a constant currency basis.

Trends

Economic and Industry Trends

The food-away-from-home sector continues to experience an overall recovery as compared to fiscal 2021. Our third quarter began with disruptions from the Omicron variant of COVID-19, which negatively impacted consumer demand and our customers due to the reintroduction of significant restrictions on their businesses. These conditions persisted through February; however, we experienced a strong market rebound beginning in late February and during March, as the impact of this variant lessened and restrictions eased.

Sales and Gross Profit Trends

Our sales and gross profit performance can be influenced by multiple factors, including price, volume, inflation, customer mix and product mix. The most significant factor affecting performance in the third quarter of fiscal 2022 was volume growth, as we experienced strong results from both independent and chain customers, driven by a 14.1% improvement in local case volume and an 18.8% improvement in total case volume within our U.S. Broadline operations, in each instance as compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2021. This growth enabled us to gain market share during the third quarter of fiscal 2022. We have two customer business segments that remain impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, namely “Business and Industry” (which includes, for example, office cafeterias) and “Travel and Hospitality.” We anticipate that both of these segments will make progress in their recovery in future quarters, which will contribute to our continued volume growth. We are on track to exceed our stated goal of achieving growth at a rate of 1.2 times the industry in fiscal 2022, and we believe that our Recipe for Growth strategy will enable us to accelerate over the next three years and grow at 1.5 times the pace of the industry by the end of fiscal 2024.

Product cost inflation has also been a driver of our sales and gross profit performance. We experienced inflation at a rate of 15.8% and 14.4% in the third quarter and first 39 weeks of fiscal 2022, respectively, in our U.S. Broadline operations, primarily driven by inflation in the poultry, produce and dairy categories. We have been successful in managing our inflation, resulting in an increase in gross profit dollars. Gross margin decreased 12 and 45 basis points in the third quarter and the first 39 weeks of fiscal 2022, respectively, as compared to the same prior year periods, largely due to the impact of product cost inflation. We are concerned about the long-term effect of elevated inflation, and we are taking actions to address it. We are actively working to improve our cost of goods sold to Sysco, so that we can pass along value to our customers. We are also pursuing Sysco brand penetration, as we believe that Sysco products can save our customers money. Lastly, we are working with our customers to help them with their menu design and locate product alternatives to avoid highly inflationary items and sub-categories.

Operating Expense Trends

Total operating expenses increased 33.4% and 31.0% during the third quarter and first 39 weeks of fiscal 2022, respectively, as compared to the third quarter and first 39 weeks of fiscal 2021, driven by the variable costs associated with significantly increased volumes, our transformation initiatives under our Recipe for Growth strategy, invest

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Our market risks consist of interest rate risk, foreign currency exchange rate risk, fuel price risk and investment risk. For a discussion on our exposure to market risk, see Part II, Item 7A, “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risks” in our fiscal 2021 Form 10-K. There have been no significant changes to our market risks since July 3, 2021, except as noted below.

Fuel Price Risk

Due to the nature of our distribution business, we are exposed to potential volatility in fuel prices. The price and availability of diesel fuel fluctuates due to changes in production, seasonality, and other market factors that are generally outside of our control. Increased fuel costs may have a negative impact on our results of operations in three areas. First, the high cost of fuel can negatively impact consumer confidence and discretionary spending and, thus, reduce the frequency and amount spent by consumers for food-away-from-home purchases. Second, the high cost of fuel can increase the price we pay for product purchases, and we may not be able to pass these costs fully to our customers. Third, increased fuel costs impact the costs we incur to deliver product to our customers. Fuel costs related to outbound deliveries represented approximately 0.5% of sales during the first 39 weeks of fiscal 2022 and fiscal 2021.

Our activities to mitigate fuel costs include routing optimization with the goal of reducing miles driven, improving fleet utilization by adjusting idling time and maximum speeds and using fuel surcharges that primarily track with the change in market prices of fuel. We use diesel fuel swap contracts to fix the price of a portion of our projected monthly diesel fuel requirements, typically 80% to 90% of our projected bulk fuel purchases. As of April 2, 2022, we had diesel fuel swaps with a total notional amount of approximately 58 million gallons through July 2023. These swaps are expected to lock in the price of approximately 60% of our projected fuel purchase needs for the remainder of fiscal 2022. Additional swaps have been entered into for hedging activity in fiscal 2023. As of April 2, 2022, we had diesel fuel swaps with a total notional amount of approximately 46 million gallons specific to fiscal 2023, which target 80% of our bulk fuel forecasted purchases during this time period. Our remaining fuel purchase needs will occur at market rates, unless contracted for a fixed price or hedged at a later date.

Sysco’s management, with the participation of our chief executive officer and chief financial officer, evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of April 2, 2022. The term “disclosure controls and procedures,” as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the Exchange Act), means controls and other procedures of a company that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by a company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time periods specified in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by a company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to the company’s management, including its principal executive and principal financial officers, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding the required disclosure. Management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving their objectives and management necessarily applies its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures. Sysco’s disclosure controls and procedures have been designed to provide reasonable assurance of achieving their objectives. Based on the evaluation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of April 2, 2022, our chief executive officer and chief financial officer concluded that, as of such date, Sysco’s disclosure controls and procedures were effective at the reasonable assurance level.

There have been no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as that term is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) of the Exchange Act) that occurred during the fiscal quarter ended April 2, 2022, that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

PART II – OTHER INFORMATION

Item 1. Legal Proceedings

Environmental Matters

Item 103 of SEC Regulation S-K requires disclosure of certain environmental matters in which a governmental authority is a party to the proceedings and when such proceedings involve the potential for monetary sanctions that Sysco’s management reasonably believes will exceed a specified threshold. Pursuant to recent SEC amendments to this item, Sysco has chosen a reporting threshold for such proceedings of $1 million. Applying this threshold, there are no material environmental matters to disclose for this period.

From time to time, we may be party to legal proceedings that arise in the ordinary course of our business. We do not believe there are any pending legal proceedings that, individually or in the aggregate, will have a material adverse effect on the company’s financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Except as provided below, there were no material changes from the risk factors disclosed in Item 1A of our fiscal 2021 Form 10-K.

Conditions beyond our control can interrupt our supplies, increase our product costs and impair our ability to deliver products and services to our customers**.**

We obtain substantially all of our foodservice and related products from third-party suppliers. Although our purchasing volume can provide benefits when dealing with suppliers, suppliers may not be able to provide the foodservice products and supplies that we need in the quantities and at the prices that we request due to conditions outside of their control. We are also subject to delays caused by interruptions in production and increases in product costs based on conditions outside of our control. These conditions include shortages of qualified labor for our suppliers, work slowdowns, work interruptions, strikes or other job actions by employees of suppliers, short-term weather conditions or more prolonged climate change, crop and other agricultural conditions, water shortages, transportation interruptions (such as shortages of ocean cargo containers), unavailability of fuel or increases in fuel costs, product recalls, competitive demands, civil insurrection or social unrest, terrorist attacks or international hostilities and natural disasters, epidemics, pandemics (such as the COVID-19 pandemic) or other human or animal disease outbreaks or other catastrophic events (including, but not limited to, foodborne illnesses). Many of these conditions outside of our control could also impair our ability to provide our products and services to our customers or increase the cost of doing so. Our current operating environment is constantly shifting in response to COVID-19, placing significant pressure on the food-away-from-home supply chain. Customer demand is currently outpacing available supply in certain categories. Certain suppliers are struggling to meet demand for our orders. Future supply shortages could have an adverse effect on the company’s financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, the global economy has been negatively impacted by the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Meanwhile, governments in the U.S., United Kingdom, and European Union have imposed export controls on certain products and financial and economic sanctions on certain industry sectors and parties in Russia. Although our business has not been materially impacted by the ongoing military conflict between Russia and Ukraine to date, it is impossible to predict the extent to which our operations, or those of our suppliers and customers, will be impacted in the short and long term, or the ways in which the conflict may impact our business. The extent and duration of the military action, sanctions and resulting market disruptions are impossible to predict, but could be substantial. Further escalation of geopolitical tensions related to the military conflict, including increased trade barriers or restrictions on global trade, could result in, among other things, cyberattacks, supply disruptions, lower consumer demand, and changes to foreign exchange rates and financial markets. Any or all of these factors could disrupt our business directly and could disrupt the business of our customers, which could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations. Any such disruptions may also magnify the impact of other risks described in this Form 10-Q and our fiscal 2021 Form 10-K.

Further, increased frequency or duration of extreme weather conditions, whether due to global climate change or otherwise, could also impair production capabilities, disrupt our supply chain or adversely affect demand for our products. At any time, input costs could increase for a prolonged period for a large portion of the products that we sell. Additionally, we procure products from suppliers outside of the U.S., and we are subject to the risks associated with political or financial instability, military conflict, trade restrictions, tariffs, currency exchange rates, transport capacity and costs and other factors relating to foreign trade, including health and safety restrictions related to epidemics and pandemics (such as the COVID-19 pandemic), any or all of which could delay our receipt of products or increase our input costs.

Our inability to obtain adequate supplies of foodservice and related products and/or to timely provide our products and services and fulfill our other obligations to our customers, whether as a result of any of the foregoing factors or otherwise could mean that we could not fulfill our obligations to customers, could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition, as our customers may turn to other distributors.

In addition, as a foodservice distributor, it is necessary for us to maintain an inventory of products. Declines in product pricing levels between the time we purchase a product from our suppliers and the time we sell the product to our customers could reduce our margin on that inventory, adversely affecting our results of operations.

Changes in the method of determining London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), or the replacement of LIBOR with an alternative reference rate, may adversely affect interest expense related to outstanding debt.

Amounts drawn under our revolving credit facility may bear interest rates in relation to LIBOR, depending on our selection of repayment options. In addition, certain of our outstanding interest rate swap agreements have a floating interest rate in relation to three-month LIBOR. On March 5, 2021, the Financial Conduct Authority in the U.K. announced that immediately after (a) December 31, 2021, in the case of all sterling, euro, Swiss franc, and Japanese yen settings, and the one week and two month U.S. dollar LIBOR settings, and (b) June 30, 2023, in the case of all other U.S. dollar LIBOR settings, such LIBOR settings will either cease to be provided by the administrator or will no longer be representative. Despite this deferral for certain U.S. dollar LIBOR tenors, the LIBOR administrator has advised that no new contracts using U.S. dollar LIBOR should be entered into after December 31, 2021. These actions indicate that the continuation of U.S. LIBOR on the current basis cannot be guaranteed after June 30, 2023. Moreover, it is possible that U.S. LIBOR for such tenors will be discontinued or modified prior to June 30, 2023. On July 29, 2021, the Alternative Reference Rates Committee, a steering committee consisting of large U.S. financial institutions convened by the Federal Reserve Board, formally recommended replacing U.S. dollar LIBOR with forward-looking Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) term rates. As a result of the discontinuation of the remaining U.S. dollar LIBOR tenors, we may need to renegotiate our credit facility and certain interest rate swap agreements, and we may not be able to do so with terms that are favorable to us.

In connection with the discontinuation of LIBOR, (a) we adhered to the ISDA 2020 IBOR Fallbacks Protocol and (b) on October 14, 2021, we entered into an amendment to our revolving credit facility that replaced (i) sterling LIBOR with the Sterling Overnight Index Average (SONIA) and (ii) euro LIBOR with the Euro Short Term Rate (ESTR).

Alternative reference rates, such as SOFR, SONIA, and ESTR, could be higher or more volatile than LIBOR, which could result in an increase in the cost of our indebtedness, impacting our financial condition and results of operations. The overall financing market may be disrupted as a result of the phase-out or replacement of LIBOR. Disruption in the financial market or the inability to renegotiate our credit facility or our interest rate swap agreements with favorable terms could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, and operating results. We continue to evaluate the potential impact of the replacement of the LIBOR benchmark interest rate; however, we are not able to predict the impact a transition to an alternative reference rate may have on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Economic and political instability and potential unfavorable changes in laws and regulations in international markets could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

Our international operations subject us to certain risks, including economic and political instability and potential unfavorable changes in laws and regulations in international markets in which we operate. For example, in June 2016, the U.K. held a referendum in which voters approved Brexit. The U.K. exited the EU on January 31, 2020, with a transition period that ended on December 31, 2020. On December 24, 2020, the European Commission reached a trade agreement with the U.K. on the terms of its future cooperation with the EU. The trade agreement offers U.K. and EU companies preferential access to each other’s markets, ensuring imported goods will be free of tariffs and quotas (subject to rules of origin requirements). Uncertainty exists regarding the ultimate impact of this trade agreement, as well as the extent of possible financial, trade, regulatory and legal implications of Brexit. Brexit also contributes to global political and economic uncertainty, which may cause, among other consequences, volatility in exchange rates and interest rates, and changes in regulations. These effects of Brexit, among others, could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations or cash flows. In addition, labor or other political disputes or general unrest can have a negative impact on our operations. For example, in fiscal 2020, the “yellow vest” protests in France against a fuel tax increase, pension reform and the French government negatively impacted our sales in France. Future labor disruptions or disputes could have a negative impact on our operations in the EU and other parts of the world.

Item 2. Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

None

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

We made the following share repurchases during the third quarter of fiscal 2022:

(1)The total number of shares purchased includes 1,297, 4,932 and 0 shares tendered by individuals in connection with stock option exercises in Month #1, Month #2 and Month #3, respectively.

(2)See the discussion in Item 2, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Liquidity and Capital Resources – Equity Transactions” for additional information regarding Sysco’s share repurchase program.

Item 3. Defaults Upon Senior Securities

None

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures

Not applicable

None

The exhibits listed on the Exhibit Index below are filed as a part of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

EXHIBIT INDEX

Filed herewith

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.