Supervalu authorizes buyback

Minneapolis The board of directors of Supervalu has authorized the grocer to buy back up to $70 million of common stock through June 30, 2011.

The company said in a news release that stock purchases will be made on the open market from time to time, mainly from cash generated from the settlement of stock options.

The program replaces the existing $70 million share repurchase program authorized in May 2009. Under that program, about 220,000 shares were repurchased for $2.9 million.

The company also said Thursday its board of directors approved an annual indicated divided of 35 cents a share and a regular quarterly dividend of 8.75 cents a share.