Minneapolis, SuperValu, Inc. announced Tuesday that the company has posted a 12% rise in second-quarter profit. The grocery chain operator said a lower costs offset a 5% drop in sales.

Net income for the quarter ended Sept. 8 grew to $148 million, from $132 million a year ago.

Sales slipped to $10.16 billion from $10.67 billion last year, as the latest period included 12 weeks of combined results, compared with 13 weeks in the second quarter of fiscal 2007. This discrepancy reduced sales in the 2008 quarter by about $450 million.