Albertsons beats profit estimates for its fiscal second quarter, sees pressure on consumer

Albertsons Cos. Inc. (ACI) said Tuesday it had net income of $266.9 million, or 46 cents a share, for its fiscal second quarter to Sept. 9, down from $342.7 million, or 59 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. The supermarket chain, which is seeking to merge with Kroger Co.(KR), said adjusted EPS came to 63 cents, ahead of the 56 cent FactSet consensus. Sales rose to $18.291 billion from $17.919 billion, compared with a FactSet consensus of $18.300 billion. CEO Vivek Sankaran said the company is mindful of the pressure on the consumer against a background of shrinking federal and state government assistance and higher interest rates. "We also expect slowing food inflation, ongoing labor investment, broad inflationary cost increases and significant declines in COVID-19 vaccination and test kit revenue. We continue to partially offset these headwinds with the benefits of our productivity initiatives," he said in a statement. The stock has gained 8% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 14%.

-Ciara Linnane

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10-17-23 0839ET

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