ELGIN, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--November 9, 2009--The Middleby Corporation (NASDAQ: MIDD), a leading worldwide manufacturer of restaurant and foodservice cooking equipment, today reported net sales and earnings for the third quarter ended October 3, 2009. Net earnings for the third quarter were $15,501,000 or $0.83 per share on net sales of $153,989,000 as compared to the prior year third quarter net earnings of $16,290,000 or $0.96 per share on net sales of $166,472,000. Net earnings for the nine months ended October 3, 2009 were $43,282,000 or $2.34 per share on net sales of $494,136,000 as compared to net earnings of $46,588,000 or $2.72 per share on net sales of $500,868,000 in the prior year first nine months.

Selim A. Bassoul Chairman and Chief Executive Officer said, “Sales to our customers both in the Commercial Foodservice Group and the Food Processing Group continued to be affected by the general economic environment. As sales have declined, we have continued to focus on maintaining our profitability levels through cost reduction initiatives and remaining disciplined with our product pricing. During the third quarter we also realized the benefit of lower steel costs which lessened the impact of reduced sales volumes during the quarter.”

Mr. Bassoul continued, “We anticipate that the business environment may continue to be challenging into the beginning of next year. Accordingly, we continue to implement measures to reduce our costs to offset lower volumes in the near term. These cost reduction efforts include strategic initiatives to reduce supply chain costs and to improve manufacturing efficiencies. Additionally, we continue to make progress on the integration of our most recently acquired businesses including Turbochef, Anets, and CookTek.”

“We were pleased with our third quarter cash flow and debt reduction. We were able to pay down over $26 million in debt during the third quarter. We will continue to focus on debt reduction and anticipate operating cash flows will remain strong for the remainder of the year.”

Mr. Bassoul concluded, “We continue to invest in new product development and in our selling organization. We are pleased with the progress of our newly created national accounts sales team introduced to support our top restaurant chain customers. Additionally, we have made investments in the second half of the year to expand our international selling organization in an effort to further penetrate the worldwide markets.”

A conference call will be held at 9:30 a.m. Central time on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 and can be accessed by dialing (212) 659-4245 and providing conference code 528529# or through the investor relations section of The Middleby Corporation website at www.middleby.com. An audio replay of the call will be available approximately one half hour after its completion and can be accessed by calling (866) 206-0173 and providing code 248712#.

Statements in this press release or otherwise attributable to the Company regarding the Company's business which are not historical fact are forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company cautions investors that such statements are estimates of future performance and are highly dependent upon a variety of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. Such factors include variability in financing costs; quarterly variations in operating results; dependence on key customers; international exposure; foreign exchange and political risks affecting international sales; changing market conditions; the impact of competitive products and pricing; the timely development and market acceptance of the Company's products; the availability and cost of raw materials; and other risks detailed herein and from time-to-time in the Company's SEC filings.

The Middleby Corporation is a global leader in the foodservice equipment industry. The company develops, manufactures, markets and services a broad line of equipment used for commercial food cooking, preparation and processing. The company's leading equipment brands serving the commercial foodservice industry include Anets®, Blodgett®, Blodgett Combi®, Blodgett Range®, Bloomfield®, Carter Hoffmann®, CookTek®, CTX®, frifri®, Giga®, Holman®, Houno®, Jade®, Lang®, MagiKitch'n®, Middleby Marshall®, Nu-Vu®, Pitco Frialator®, Southbend®, Star®, Toastmaster®, TurboChef® and Wells®. The company’s leading equipment brands serving the food processing industry include Alkar®, MP Equipment®, and RapidPak®. The Middleby Corporation was recognized by Business Week as one of the Top 100 Hot Growth Companies of 2007 and 2008, by Crain’s Chicago Business as one of the Fastest 50 Growth Companies in 2007 and 2008, and by Forbes as one of the Best Small Companies in 2007 and 2008.

For more information about The Middleby Corporation and the company brands, please visit www.middleby.com.


THE MIDDLEBY CORPORATION
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF EARNINGS
(Amounts in 000’s, Except Per Share Information)
(Unaudited)

	Three Months Ended					Nine Months Ended
	3^rd Qtr, 2009			3^rd Qtr, 2008		3^rd Qtr, 2009		3^rd Qtr, 2008
Net sales	$	153,989		$	166,472	$	494,136	$	500,868
Cost of sales		91,952			101,735		301,989		310,221

Gross profit		62,037			64,737		192,147		190,647

Selling & distribution expenses		16,361			16,822		49,335		49,743
General & administrative expenses		17,602			16,962		59,702		51,443

Income from operations		28,074			30,953		83,110		89,461

Interest expense and deferred
financing amortization, net		2,797			3,168		8,800		9,910
Other expense, net		(137	)		850		607		1,798

Earnings before income taxes		25,414			26,935		73,703		77,753

Provision for income taxes		9,913			10,645		30,421		31,165

Net earnings	$	15,501		$	16,290	$	43,282	$	46,588


Net earnings per share:

Basic	$	0.88		$	1.02	$	2.46	$	2.91

Diluted	$	0.83		$	0.96	$	2.34	$	2.72
Weighted average number shares:

Basic		17,600			15,911		17,589		15,985

Diluted		18,754			17,017		18,520		17,143

THE MIDDLEBY CORPORATION
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(Amounts in 000’s)
(Unaudited)


	Oct 3, 2009		Jan 3, 2009
ASSETS

Cash and cash equivalents	$	10,991	$	6,144
Accounts receivable, net		79,033		85,969
Inventories, net		93,878		91,551
Prepaid expenses and other		8,335		7,646
Current deferred tax assets		33,047		18,387
Total current assets		225,284		209,697

Property, plant and equipment, net		46,184		44,757

Goodwill		361,515		266,663
Other intangibles		186,795		125,501
Other assets		3,403		3,314

Total assets	$	823,181	$	649,932


LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

Current maturities of long-term debt	$	6,890	$	6,377
Accounts payable		39,879		32,543
Accrued expenses		126,232		102,579
Total current liabilities		173,001		141,499

Long-term debt		288,118		228,323
Long-term deferred tax liability		12,450		33,687
Other non-current liabilities		30,452		23,029

Stockholders’ equity		319,160		223,394

Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity	$	823,181	$	649,932

CONTACT:
The Middleby Corporation
Darcy Bretz, Investor and Public Relations, 847-429-7756
or
Tim FitzGerald, Chief Financial Officer, 847-429-7744