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Sysco Corporation // COR E STR ENGTHS / 2011 Annual Report
2
N
Now, more than ever, our commitment to
serving our customers is directly linked to
our success. The market environment in fiscal
2011 was challenging, marked with increasing
food cost inflation and modest growth as the
economy continued its choppy and uneven
recovery. Yet our ability to listen to and meet
our customers’ needs allowed us to grow our
share of the foodservice distribution market
during the year.
That customer commitment, combined with an
emphasis on improving productivity in all parts
of our business and a strategic approach to invest-
ing for future growth, are the keys to Sysco’s
success in carrying out its mission of marketing
and delivering great products to our customers
with exceptional service.
Our sales for fiscal 2011 were $39.3 billion, an
increase of 5.6 percent compared to the prior
year. Our fiscal year 2010 included an extra week
of operations; adjusting for that anomaly, this
year’s sales increased 7.7 percent. Earnings per
share (EPS) declined slightly to $1.96 for the
year, but after adjusting for certain special items,
including the extra week in the prior year, EPS
grew 4.2 percent. During the year, we maintained
a strong return on invested capital of 17 percent,
increased our dividend per share and returned
nearly $600 million in dividends to our share-
holders. These results are a testament to our
customer focus and financial discipline.
Outlook for the Future
Looking forward, the pace of market growth is
expected to remain modest in the near-term and
macro-economic challenges will likely continue
to pressure consumers. However, while we work
to grow our business profitably each day, we
alsotake a long-term view and see tremendous
opportunity to grow our 17 percent market
sharein the $220 billion food-away-from-
home market.
To do this, Sysco associates have rallied around
our vision to be our customers’ most valued and
trusted business partner. We are committed to
our customers’ success. That means supporting
them by providing quality products and services
to help them run their business more eectively
and profitably. Moving forward, we look to
enhance our customer relationships by deliver-
ing a better value proposition to our customers.
In order to bring this vision to reality, we have
established a plan focused on five strategic
areas to:
Profoundly enrich the experience of doing
business with Sysco. We are building on our
industry-leading business review process,
through which we work hand-in-hand with our
customers to devise appealing and economically
sound menu choices and identify opportunities
to create eciencies. Realizing the importance
of this program, we increased our number
ofbusiness reviews in fiscal 2011 to more
than58,000. We have improved the business
TO S