(The Associated Press circulated the following story by Bob Fick on December 7.)
BOISE, Idaho — Albertsons reported a 51 percent decline in third-quarter profit Friday as the strike by Southern California grocery workers siphoned an estimated $132 million from revenue in just the last 19 days of October.
The nation’s second-largest food and drug retailer said net income totaled $92 million, or 25 cents a share, in the three months ended Oct. 30, compared with $188 million, or 47 cents a share, a year earlier.
Sales rose to $8.8 billion from $8.66 billion for the same period a year ago.
The performance fell far below expectations on Wall Street, where analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call anticipated earnings of 37 cents a share.
Albertsons stock was down 84 cents, or 4 percent, to close at $20.31 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Albertsons Chairman Larry Johnston blamed the strike, well into its second month after beginning Oct. 11, for the financial erosion.
“While the labor disputes negatively impacted our overall results, we were pleased with the underlying performance of our business,” Johnston said in a statement.
“Most importantly, comparable- and identical-store sales, excluding the labor disputes, were positive in the third quarter, indicating the underlying strength of our marketplace programs and the improving economy,” he said.
Identical stores are those open at least a year that have not undergone any major changes; comparable stores are those open at least a year that might have been remodeled or otherwise overhauled.
With the impact of the strike, both comparable- and identical-store sales were lower for the sixth straight quarter.
Three weeks ago, the Boise corporation withdrew its projection for a 2003 per-share profit of between $1.70 and $1.75 a share because of the uncertainty created by the strike that has affected about 850 stores it and two other chains operate from San Luis Obispo to San Diego.
Albertsons, which spent much of 2002 extricating itself from unprofitable markets, reported third-quarter sales were off nearly 1 percent at comparable stores and just over 1 percent at identical stores from a year earlier.
But the company said that after adjusting for the strike, comparable-store sales were 0.7 percent ahead of a year ago while identical-store sales were 0.3 percent higher.