Safeway: Deflation Cuts Gains
Jul 26, 2010 12:00 PM, By ELLIOT ZWIEBACH
Burd said Safeway was expecting a stronger return of inflation. “We had predicted 1% deflation in the first quarter, which is what we had, and 0.5% inflation in the second quarter, but we ended up with 2.4% deflation in terms of price per item at the retail level in the second quarter, and that was a big surprise.”
He predicted a return to more traditional inflation rates by late 2011.
Among other comments during the conference call:
-
Burd said Safeway has reduced shrink by $600 million over the last eight years.
-
An employee buyout in one of its markets during the first quarter impacted earnings per share by 2 cents.
Q3 RESULTS
| Qtr Ended | 6/19/10 | 6/20/09 |
|---|---|---|
| Sales | $9.5B | $9.46B |
| Change | +0.6% |
|
| Comp-store | -2.5% |
|
| Net Income | $141.3M | $238.6M |
| Change | -40.8% |
|
| Inc./Share | 37¢ | 57¢ |
| 24 Weeks | 2010 | 2009 |
| Sales | $18.9B | $18.7B |
| Change | +0.8% |
|
| Comp-store | Not available |
|
| Net Income | $237.3M | 382.8M |
| Change | -38% |
|
| Inc./Share | 62¢ | 90¢ |
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