US retailer Safeway today (24 April) reported a 13% rise in quarterly profits thanks to this year’s early Easter and cost cuts.
However, the company revised its sales forecast downwards for the full year.
The grocer booked net income of US$193.4m on a total revenue increase of 7.3% to $10bn.
Identical-store sales, excluding fuel, rose 2.9%.
Chairman, president and CEO Steve Burd said he was “pleased” with the result. “Our efforts to reduce and control costs contributed to operating margin improvement. At the same time, we invested in lower prices to improve our competitiveness and enhance our consumer offering,” he said.
Nevertheless, Safeway said it now expects identical-store sales growth of 2-2.3% this year, down from an early forecast of 3-3.2%.
