united natural foods inc reported higher earnings in its third quarter aided by an inflationdriven rise in sales and a gain on the sale of assets related to a distribution center the providence ribased food distributor posted net income of 67 million or 110 a share for the quarter ended april 30 up from 48 million or 80 cents a share in the same period a year ago stripping out onetime items adjusted earnings were also 110 above analyst estimates of 97 cents a share according to factset sales rose 92 in the third quarter to 724 billion due to inflation and new business from existing and new customers the company said analysts surveyed by factset had been expecting 71 billion in sales the sales growth was partially offset by supplychain challenges and modest market contraction the company said its bottom line was boosted by an 88 million gain on asset sales related to a distribution center though also dragged down by a 72 million pretax inventory reduction and 8 million in pretax restructuring acquisition and integration related expenses