Reuters: Global Markets: Supervalu says sales talks proceeding, posts loss

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Supervalu says sales talks proceeding, posts loss Oct 18th 2012, 14:12 Thu Oct 18, 2012 10:12am EDT (Reuters) - Supervalu, the third-largest U.S. grocery store operator, the owner of Jewel-Osco, Save-A-Lot and Albertsons chains, on Thursday said its review of strategic alternatives is proceeding and that it is in talks with several parties, sending shares higher. The company also reported a quarterly loss on charges related to store closings and asset writedowns and on falling sales, as it cut prices to try to win back consumers. Shares in the company rose 2.9 percent after supermarket sales fell less than some analysts expected. Supervalu posted a net loss of $111 million, or 52 cents per share, for the second quarter ended September 8, compared with a profit of $60 million, or 28 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding the charges, the company reported earnings per share of nil. Analysts on average had forecast earnings of 13 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Sales fell to $8.04 billion from $8.43 billion a year earlier. Analysts on average had forecast $8.01 billion. Supervalu's retail food division reported a 4.3 percent decline in identical-store sales during the quarter. Save-A-Lot's network identical-store sales fell 3.7 percent. Supervalu's identical-store sales, a key performance measure, show results from supermarkets operating for four full quarters, including store expansions and excluding fuel sales. Supervalu, struggling to pay down debt from its 2006 acquisition of more than 1,000 Albertsons stores, in recent years has lost customers to Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) and Kroger Co (KR.N). The company, which recently got a new chief executive, has been closing stores and cutting costs. It also suspended its dividend in July in a bid to fund aggressive price cuts aimed at luring more shoppers to its stores. Shares, which closed at $2.04 on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, rose to $2.10 in early trading. (Reporting By Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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