In brief: Sysco to address monopoly concerns, plans sale of 11 distribution centers

HOUSTON – Food supply company Sysco said it would sell 11 distribution centers to Performance Foods Group in order to alleviate Federal Trade Commission concerns over its pending $3.5 billion acquisition of rival U.S. Foods.

Sysco Corp. agreed to buy U.S. Foods in December 2013. The FTC is still reviewing the transaction.

Sysco President and CEO Bill DeLaney said in a statement on the distribution center plans that it has worked over the past year with the FTC to help them better understand the highly competitive U.S. foodservice distribution industry and the customer benefits that would result from the deal.

“Unfortunately, the FTC has taken a different view of the potential competitive impacts of the merger. While we respectfully but vigorously disagree with the FTC’s analysis, we believe this divestiture package fully addresses its concerns,” he said.

Sysco said it would sell 11 U.S. Foods distribution centers located in Corona, California; Denver; Kansas City; Phoenix; Salt Lake City; San Diego; San Francisco; Seattle; Cleveland; Las Vegas and Minneapolis.

The sale is contingent on getting government approval of the deal for U.S. Foods, which is based in Rosemont, Illinois. Performance Foods Group is based in Richmond, Virginia.

RadioShack to be delisted from NYSE

The New York Stock Exchange plans to delist the shares of troubled retailer RadioShack.

RadioShack Corp. has been struggling with weak sales that have rendered it unprofitable. The Texas-based company warned last year that it may have to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy and its CEO recently warned it might not be able to find a long-term plan to stay afloat.

This has hammered its stock price and the NYSE requires companies meet certain market capitalization thresholds to remain on the exchange. According to a news release Monday, the NYSE plans to delist RadioShack and suspend its shares because the company does not intend to submit a plan to address the issue.

RadioShack declined to comment.

Manufacturing shows expansion, slow growth

WASHINGTON – U.S. factories expanded last month at the slowest pace in a year, as orders, production and hiring all declined. The figures suggested manufacturing may not add much to growth in the first few months of 2015.

The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers, said Monday that its manufacturing index fell to 53.5 in January from 55.1 in December. That is the third straight drop and lowest since January 2014. Still, any reading above 50 signals expansion.

Manufacturing helped accelerate economic growth last year as Americans bought more cars and businesses spent more on industrial machinery and equipment. But slower overseas growth and cutbacks in business investment in oil and gas drilling equipment are weighing on factory output. A labor dispute at West Coast ports is also disrupting supply chains for many industries.

New orders grew last month, but at the slowest pace in a year, the survey found. That suggests manufacturing growth will remain modest. Factories added jobs, but at the weakest pace since June. That’s a negative sign for this week’s jobs report, which will be released Friday.

Still, economists weren’t overly concerned by the report. Most said it is consistent with steady growth in the first quarter.