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Supervalu is back in the black, but the new tax law is causing a hiccup

New tax law will set the company back from a projected profit of up to $50 million to a potential $20 million loss.

January 11, 2018 at 2:24AM
Customers walked through the fresh deli area of the Stillwater flagship store on 4/3/13. With Supervalu's $3.3 billion deal done and the company now half the size it used to be, Cub Foods is its largest conventional grocery chain remaining, as measured by number of stores. We talk with Cub President Brian Audette about the chain's future in the Twin Cities, where it is the largest grocery operator. Will look at it plans to deal with increasing pressure from low price leaders like Wal-mart and wh
Behind strong sales at stores like this Stillwater Cub Foods, Supervalu had been projecting a big turnaround in this fiscal year from last. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Just as Supervalu Inc. was starting to gain some traction in its quarterly results, the company revealed in its latest results Wednesday that the new tax law will hurt its bottom line for the rest of its fiscal year.

The news helped send Supervalu's shares down nearly 14 percent.

Supervalu, based in Eden Prairie, said it will take a charge of up to $45 million in the last three months of its fiscal year, which ends in early March, to account for reducing the carrying value of deferred tax assets as a result of the new tax law.

It now expects full-year profit from continuing operations to range from a loss of $20 million to a profit of $2 million. It had previously expected that profit to range from $31 million to $50 million.

Supervalu earned $18 million, or 46 cents a diluted share, from continuing operations during the three months ended Dec. 2, the third quarter of its fiscal year.

That's a turnaround from a loss of $11 million in the same period a year earlier. The adjustments covered $4 million in acquisition-related costs and $1 million in costs for store closings.

Sales shot up 31 percent to $3.94 billion, helped by the acquisition of Unified Grocers in its wholesale division.

With that deal, Supervalu saw its wholesale net sales jump 52 percent to $2.89 billion. "We continue to achieve strong underlying growth in our wholesale business," Supervalu CEO Mark Gross said in a statement.

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The business saw its adjusted operating profit fall to $48 million from $52 million in the year-ago period.

Sales in Supervalu's retail business, which includes Cub Foods, the largest grocery chain in the Twin Cities, fell 4 percent to $1.02 billion. Same-store sales, or those open at least a year, fell 3.5 percent.

The retail unit experienced an operating loss of $6 million, which was an improvement from an operating loss of $14 million in the year-ago quarter.

Five stores have closed in the past 12 months, including the Rainbow Midway store in St. Paul, two Farm Fresh stores in Virginia and two Shop n' Save stores in St. Louis. Five more are expected to close in coming months, interim Chief Financial Officer Rob Woseth said during a call with analysts. Banners and locations have not been announced.

John Ewoldt • 612-673-7633

Mark Gross, Supervalu's new CEO
Mark Gross, Supervalu's new CEO (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Supervalu, which has 23,000 employees, has a distribution center in Hopkins. Cub Foods is among the retail grocery stores it owns and operates.
Supervalu moved into the black during its third fiscal quarter, but its two main businesses continued to go in opposite directions. (Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
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about the writer

John Ewoldt

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John Ewoldt is a business reporter for the Star Tribune. He writes about small and large retailers including supermarkets, restaurants, consumer issues and trends, and personal finance.  

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