AUSTIN, Texas — Whole Foods Market here said yesterday it expects sales to grow 25% to 30% in fiscal 2008, including a 10% boost resulting from its acquisition of the Wild Oats chain late in the fourth quarter. The company said comparable-store sales at the Wild Oats units rose from 3.9% during the fourth quarter, which ended Sept. 30, to 6.6% for the first quarter to date. Including the last five weeks of Wild Oats results, Whole Foods said net income for the 53-week year (compared with a 52-week year in 2006) fell 10.4% to $182.7 million, with sales up 17.6% to approximately $6.6 billion. Comparable-store sales rose 7.1%. For the 13-week quarter (compared with a 12-week fourth quarter the prior year) net income fell 14.8% to approximately $33.9 million, with sales up 35% to $1.7 billion and comps up 8.2%. Excluding acquired operations, Whole Foods said sales rose 15.9% to $1.6 billion for the quarter and 13.2% to approximately $6.5 billion for the year.
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