Supervalu doubles net earnings; commits to rebranding retail banners

Minneapolis – Supervalu reported net earnings of $31 million during the third quarter of fiscal 2014, almost double the net earnings of $16 million reported in the same quarter of the prior fiscal year. This dramatic increase came even as net sales slipped 1% to $4.1 billion from $4.5 billion.



Total same-store sales declined 3.7%, although the Save-A-Lot network reported a 1.7% increase. The net earnings results show that so far Supervalu’s decision to sell off larger banner such as Albertson’s and Jewel-Osco to focus its business on smaller regional chains such as Save-A-Lot is paying off.



"Although we are less than a year removed from the sale of five of our retail banners, Supervalu has made positive strides in all three of our business segments to better position the company for financial growth and improved shareholder value," said Sam Duncan, CEO of Supervalu.



The chain has committed to investing into its retail supermarket banners with a makeover for all of the banners, a review of the planograms within those banners and private label.



"We will launch shortly rebranding campaigns in all of our retail banners, where our customer messaging has been disjointed and oftentimes confusing," Duncan told analysts Thursday morning. "When complete, these banners will have a much more clearly defined identity, which we will be communicating across all platforms, including in-store signage, weekly ads, customer emails, mobile devices and banner web pages."