Uniform rental firm Cintas raises annual forecasts on strong demand

Sept 23 (Reuters) - Cintas Corp CTAS.O on Wednesday raised its annual revenue and profit forecasts after beating estimates for first-quarter profit, betting on resilient demand for its uniform rental and workplace-safety services, despite ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty.

Steady job growth in healthcare, education and government has supported demand for the company's services, even as businesses in other sectors have turned more cautious on hiring.

Its growth has been supported by recurring rental and servicing agreements, alongside opportunities to sell additional products and services to existing customers.

Here are some details:

• Cintas expects fiscal 2027 revenue in the range of $12.15 billion to $12.27 billion, compared with prior expectations between $12.10 billion to $12.25 billion.

• It forecast full-year adjusted earnings of $5.45 to $5.54 per share, up from $5.36 to $5.50 per share previously.

• The uniform rental firm's first-quarter revenue rose 10.9% to $3.01 billion from a year ago. Analysts had estimated a rise of about 10% to $2.98 billion.

• Its quarterly adjusted profit came in at $1.39 per share, beating estimates of $1.35 per share.

• The company, which supplies workplace products and services ranging from uniforms and shop towels to safety and fire protection offerings, now expects its $5.5 billion acquisition of smaller rival UniFirst UNF.N to close before the end of calendar 2026, compared with its prior expectation of completion in the second half of 2026.