SUNBURY, Pa. — Weis Markets said Monday it has agreed to acquire three Genuardi’s locations in Pennsylvania from Pleasanton, Calif.-based Safeway.
Terms were not immediately available.
Safeway previously agreed to sell 16 Genuardi’s stores to Ahold’s Giant-Carlisle chain for $106 million, and said at the time it was seeking buyers for another eight Genuardi’s locations.
The stores Weis is buying are located at 200 Ridge Pike in Conshohocken; 13 Old Dublin Pike in Doylestown; and 25 West Germantown Pikein Norristown. The stores will continue to operate as Genuardi’s until the sale is completed, Weis said.
“We’re extremely pleased to be adding these stores to our store base,” said Weis Markets’ president and chief executive officer, David J. Hepfinger. “We look forward to serving these communities as the lead local merchant as we have in 33 counties throughout central, eastern and northeastern Pennsylvania.”
Weis currently operates 161 stores in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, New Jersey and West Virginia.
Separately, Weis said Monday that its net income grew 37% in the fourth quarter, to $19.3 million, on a sales increase of 11.4%, to $737.8 million. The most recent quarter was a 14-week period, vs. a 13-week period a year ago. The extra week added about $1.3 million in net income, the company said. Comparable-store sales adjusted for the extra week were up 4.8%.
For the 53-week fiscal year — vs. a 52-week preceding year — net income was up 10.7%, to $75.6 million, on a sales increase of 5%, to $2.75 billion. Comps for the full year were up 4.2% after adjusting for the extra week.
“Our organization generated strong results for the year in a market clearly impacted by the slow recovery and continuing high unemployment,” said Hepfinger. “We continue to benefit from our record level cap-ex investments in our store base, improved efficiencies and operating discipline in the overall management of our stores, strong increases in our sales per customer and more comprehensive sales-building programs during key holiday periods, particularly in the fourth quarter.”
