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Supervalu Shares Rise on Outlook

MINNEAPOLIS — The stock of Supervalu here was up more than 10% in early trading Thursday after the company said its outlook for the year was better than analysts expected.

MINNEAPOLIS — Shares of Supervalu here surged nearly 17% Thursday after the company said its outlook for the year was better than analysts expected.

After reporting same-store sales declines of 6% for the recently ended year, Supervalu said it was projecting same-store sales to improve to negative 1.5% to negative 2.5% in the current fiscal year.

"We've got great people in our company and I think we've had the right
plan," said Craig Herkert, president and chief executive officer. "We did not provide them with the right tools and processes to go ahead and get after it. Today we have that."

Supervalu's projections for the current fiscal year also included earnings in the range of $1.20 to $1.40 per share, on sales of $37.5 billion.

Analysts has expected earnings to be at the low end of Supervalu's projected range.

For the fourth quarter, which ended Feb. 26, Supervalu reported net income of $95 million on sales of $8.66 billion — declines of 2.1% and 5.9%, respectively, from year-ago results. Same-store sales fell 5%, weighed down by poor results in the Northeast and below-average results at the Jewel-Osco banner in Chicago.

For the full year Supervalu posted a loss of $1.51 billion, following several one-time charges for an asset goodwill write-down, store closures and other charges. Excluding one-time charges and extraordinary gains, the company said net income would have been $296 million. That compares with Net income of $393 million in the preceding year.

Sales for the full year were 37.5 billion, down 7.6% from a year ago.