Supervalu misses on sales, but on target with profit

Supervalu Inc. posted disappointing sales results for its second quarter as the company continues to shift its business toward wholesale distribution.



The company released its second quarter results just days after it entered into an agreement to sell its Save-A-Lot discount grocery chain to Canadian private equity firm Onex for $1.37 billion in cash.



Supervalu reported fiscal second-quarter earnings of $31 million. On a per-share basis, the company had a profit of 12 cents. Earnings, adjusted to account for discontinued operations and non-recurring gains, were 10 cents per share.



The results met Wall Street expectations.



Revenue fell 4.8% to $3.87 billion for the quarter, amid a same-store sales decline of 5.9%.



“As we expected, the transformation of our business continues to take time, but I am optimistic about our ability to grow our wholesale business by adding new customers, securing long-term supply agreements with existing customers, and expanding overall product sales to all customers,” said p[resident and CEO Mark Gross. “We expect wholesale sales in the second half of this year to be higher than last year as we add new customers, grow our base business, and cycle select customer losses from last year.”