Supervalu raises FY '09 guidance

MINNEAPOLIS Supervalu today raised its preliminary earnings guidance for fiscal 2009, on a GAAP basis, to a range of $3.06 to $3.22 per diluted share, which includes approximately 6 cents per diluted share for the 53-week year that begins on Feb. 24 and ends on Feb. 28, 2009. Preliminary fiscal 2009 diluted earnings per share guidance, on an adjusted basis, is expected to be in the range of $3.10 to $3.25 per diluted share when excluding one-time acquisition-related costs of 3 cents to 4 cents per diluted share.

“We are providing preliminary guidance for fiscal 2009 today and will give greater visibility to our 2009 outlook in mid April when we report our fiscal 2008 earnings. Our preliminary fiscal 2009 guidance range on a GAAP basis equates to an increase of 10% to 19% per diluted share and on an adjusted basis an increase of 4% to 11% per diluted share over fiscal 2008,” said Jeff Noddle, Supervalu chairman and ceo.

Noddle added that the company is expecting low single-digit sales growth and identical-store sales growth in the range of 1% to 2% for fiscal 2009.

The company affirmed its fiscal 2008 earnings guidance range of $2.71 to $2.77 per diluted share on a GAAP basis. On an adjusted basis, the fiscal 2008 earnings per share guidance range is now expected to be $2.92 to $2.98, when excluding one-time acquisition-related costs of 21 cents per diluted share, up from 20 cents per diluted share in previous guidance. The fiscal 2008 earnings per share range reflects identical store sales growth of approximately 0.5%, reflecting flat fourth quarter identical-store sales.