Kroger mum on Safeway interest Mark Hamstra Mar 06, 2014 Kroger Co., in its last quarterly earnings call that will not include results from the purchase of Harris Teeter, declined to comment on reports that it was exploring a bid to acquire all or part of Safeway. CONNECT WITH SN ON TWITTER Follow @SN_News for updates throughout the day. “The model that weve outlined in terms of growing our business for our shareholders doesnt require any type of mergers to achieve,” said Rodney McMullen, CEO of Cincinnati-based Kroger, when asked about the companys stance on acquisitions. McMullen made his remarks just hours before Safeway and Albertsons announced that they had agreed to merge, but Kroger could potentially be considering a rival offer, or an offer for some of Safeways assets. In announcing the Safeway-Albertsons deal, Robert Edwards, president and CEO of Safeway, said it was only considering rival offers for the whole chain, and any competing offer would have to pay at least $150 million as a break-up fee to nullify the Albertsons agreement. Albertsons would owe Safeway $400 million if it scuttles the deal. Meanwhile, Kroger reported its 41st consecutive quarter of identical-store sales gains, at 4.3% excluding fuel. “This strong performance was supported by ID sales growth in every department and every supermarket division,” said Mike Schlotman, EVP and CFO, adding that the company is seeing double-digit growth in ID sales in its natural food categories. Read more: Kroger extends refresh initiative to Southwest Division Net income in the fourth quarter totaled $421.9 million, on sales gains of 4.8%, to $23.2 billion adjusted for an extra week in the year-ago period. Kroger said its results were “enhanced by the company’s response to adverse weather in the fourth quarter 2013.” It also said that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program customers continue to spend more of their own money at Kroger in the wake of cuts in the program, known as SNAP. For the year, net income was $1.52 billion, on sales of $98.4 billion, up 3.9% adjusted for an extra week in the previous year. Read More: supermarketnews/retail-amp-financial/kroger-mum-safeway-interest#ixzz2vHiHSxR4
Posted on: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 13:50:42 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015