Smart & Final sales up, helped by store growth

Warehouse grocer Smart & Final Inc. said third-quarter sales rose 6%, helped by its store growth program.

The City of Commerce-based company said income from continuing operations was $7.5 million for the quarter, or 23 cents a share, compared with $1 million, or 3 cents, a year earlier.

Quarterly sales rose to $672.6 million from $634.4 million a year earlier. Same-store sales, an important measure of a retailer's financial health, rose by 3.8%. The company now operates 251 stores, up from 241 in the same period a year earlier.