US-based grocery chain SuperValu has posted a 2.3% decline in net sales to $3.89bn in the fourth quarter ended 21 March 2013, compared to $3.98bn in the same quarter of last year.
Retail food net sales were $1.09bn in the fourth quarter, down from $1.14bn in the earlier year quarter.
Save-A-Lot, a US-based discount grocery chain and a subsidiary of SuperValu, reported $969m net sales compared to $984m, a decrease of 1.5%.
Net sales decrease primarily reflects a decline in identical store sales of negative 4.1% for Retail Food and negative 2.6% for Save-A-Lot network identical store sales.
Independent business net sales totaled $1.83bn in the fourth quarter ended 23 February 2013, a decrease of 1.3% compared to $1.86bn in the year ago quarter.
The chain's gross profit totaled $548m, or 14.1% of net sales, compared to $572m, or 14.4% of net sales last year.
In the full fiscal 2013, net sales were $17.1bn. Identical store sales for Retail Food were negative 2.4%. Full year Save-A-Lot network identical store sales were negative 3.3%.
Commenting on future plans, SuperValu president and chief executive officer Sam Duncan said, "My focus now is on the customer and driving sales increases in all our business units."
SuperValu operates over 3,420 stores, comprising 1,900 independent stores serviced primarily by the company's food distribution business, 1,331 Save-A-Lot stores, of which 950 are operated by licensee owners; and 191 traditional retail grocery stores.
