Many fourth quarter reports are in, including Delhaize (Bottom Dollar, Food Lion), Ahold (Giant) and Supervalu (Acme, Sav-A-Lot).
Delhaize:
- Comparable sales fell 0.8% in the U.S. in Q4, an improvement over recent results and driven in part by strong sales at Hannaford Bros.
- For the year, comparable sales were down 2% in the U.S.
- Total revenues for U.S. operations, which include Bottom Dollar, Food Lion, Sweetbay and Hannaford Bros., were flat at about $4.7 billion for Q4 and down about 1% to $18.8 billion for the year.
- The company ended 2010 with 1,627 supermarkets in the U.S. During the year they opened 40 stores (16 of which were Bottom Dollar locations) and closed 20 stores.
- Total revenues for the company in 2010, which include European and Indonesian operations, were about $28 billion.
Royal Ahold NV:
- Consolidated net sales for Q4 were €7 billion, an increase of 5.5% over Q4 2009. Net sales for 2010 were €29.5 billion, up 4.4%.
- Q4 Revenue at U.S. supermarkets open at least a year, excluding gasoline sales, increased 0.9% from a year earlier.
- The company’s Q4 revenue from U.S. stores (Giant, Martins, Stop & Shop, Peapod) totaled $5.6 billion, up 6%, and were boosted by the acquisition of the family-owned Ukrop’s stores in 2009.
- For the year, net sales in the U.S. totaled $23.5 billion, a 5.1% increase over 2009 sales.
- The A&P bankruptcy filing has led analysts to speculate that Ahold may seek to buy some of A&P’s 400 supermarkets (A&P, Pathmark, Super Fresh, Waldbaum’s, Food Emporium, Food Basics).
Increases reported by Ahold factor in an adjustment for “the impact of an additional week in 2009.” (Ahold uses a 364-day calendar, which requires an extra week in certain years in order to align their year-end as closely as possible to the calendar year.)
Supervalu:
- Q3 fiscal 2011 net sales were $8.7 billion, which represent a net loss of $202 million, compared to net sales of $9.2 million and earnings of $109 million in Q3 fiscal 2010. The Q3 2011 loss includes $252 million in charges (non-cash goodwill and intangible asset impairment, store closures and exit costs, employee severance and labor buyout costs). Without these charges, net earnings were $50 million.
- Q3 retail food net sales were $6.6 billion, down 7.7% from $7.1 billion a year ago.
- Retail square footage at the end of Q3 decreased 4.1% from the same time a year ago.
Wegmans, a private company and therefore not obligated to report results, did have something to report recently. FORTUNE Magazine ranked the company #3 on their 2010 list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. Wegmans has been on the list every year since it began in 1998, and in 2005, was ranked #1. Whole Foods Market made the list at #24.