Ruddick Corporation—a holding company with two primary operating subsidiaries: American & Efird, Inc., (A&E), a manufacturer and distributor of thread and specialty engineered yarns and Harris Teeter, Inc., a chain of supermarkets—has reported that consolidated sales for the 2006 fiscal first quarter ended January 1, 2006 increased by 9.6% to $796.6 million from $726.9 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2005.

In the first quarter of fiscal 2006, consolidated net income was $16.9 million compared with $16.6 million in the prior year's first quarter. The 1.7% increase in net earnings over the prior year was driven by a 14.4% increase in operating profit at Harris Teeter. The operating profit improvement at Harris Teeter was partially offset by an operating loss at A&E resulting from weak manufacturing operating schedules for apparel-related thread products in the Americas and incremental costs associated with the implementation of A&E's initiatives to diversify its product lines.

A&E sales of $80.5 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2006 increased by 12.4% from the $71.7 million reported in the prior year period. The increase was driven by domestic sales increases of 27.1% resulting primarily from sales attributed to the acquisition of the businesses of Robison-Anton Textile Co. in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2005 and Ludlow Textiles Company, Inc. in the second quarter of fiscal 2005. Foreign sales were relatively consistent between the first quarters of fiscal 2006 and fiscal 2005, and accounted for approximately 49% of A&E total sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2006 compared with approximately 55% in the prior year period.

In the first quarter of fiscal 2006, A&E recorded an operating loss of $1.3 million compared with operating profit of $1.5 million in the previous year's first fiscal quarter.