America’s second biggest supermarket, Safeway, has announced that it is in ongoing discussions to be sold. The company did not disclose any further information, including who the interested party is, and stressed that there are no guarantees that the discussions would lead to an agreement. According to Reuters, a number of buyout firms, including Cerberus Capital Management, are in talks with the retailer.
The announcement comes in the wake of Safeway publishing its fourth quarter and full-year results which showed Q4 sales and other revenue of US$11.3bn compared with US$11.2bn for the same period of 2012. Net earnings were US$100m, or 35 cents per diluted share, compared to US$170.7m of 71 cents per diluted share for the fourth quarter of 2012. Full-year earnings remained flat at US$36.1bn.
Safeway has been trying to streamline its business by selling off non-core units, including its gift card provider, Blackhawk Network Holdings, and its Canadian division. At the end of last year it also closed 72 Dominick’s stores in Chicago.
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