Dive Brief:
- Wholesale distributor Supervalu had a successful third quarter in 2014, its best in years, in which all three of its business segments saw increased sales.
- The company posted sales of $4.2 billion, a 4.7% comparable sales gain over last year's Q3 sales of $4 billion.
- Supervalu reported earnings at 18 cents per share, which was 4 cents higher than analyst's estimates.
Dive Insight:
As for numbers on the segment sales increases, Supervalu's Save-a-lot division's same-store sales rose 7%; Retail Food increased by 2.3%; and Independent Business enjoyed a 2.4% sales bump. These increases build upon better sales year over year in Q2, wherein Save-a-lot sales rose 8% and overall sales jumped to $4.02 billion from $3.95 billion in the same quarter the year before. Sales in the first quarter of the year surpassed analysts' expectations as well.
Supervalu president and CEO Sam Duncan said the company "passed an important milestone" and "provided many positives for us to build on during the final quarter of our fiscal year.”