Kroger

Kroger Co., the nation's largest grocer, said Tuesday that its fiscal fourth-quarter loss widened as it wrote down the value of its Ralphs and Food 4 Less chains, which continued to struggle in the wake of last year's California strike and lockout. The company offered deep discounts to lure shoppers back to Ralphs, and that hurt profit margins.

Kroger Co., the nation's largest grocer, said its third-quarter profit jumped 29%, but the results fell short of analysts' expectations as it continued to trim prices to compete with discounters and grocery rivals. Cincinnati-based Kroger, which operates Ralphs and Food 4 Less stores in Southern California, said it earned $142.7 million, or 19 cents a share, for the quarter ended Nov. 6, up from $110.2 million, or 15 cents, a year earlier.

Kroger Co., still feeling the effects of a lengthy labor dispute in California, faces a possible walkout as 8,500 supermarket employees in three other states began voting on a contract offer that the union recommends they reject. Union leaders also asked members for a strike authorization. The contract, which expires at 7 p.m.

Kroger Co., the nation's largest grocery chain, posted a 25% drop in second-quarter profit and warned that it might not meet its yearly sales target as it struggled to regain business lost during Southern California's grocery strike. The Cincinnati-based chain's earnings performance fell short of analysts' expectations, sending the company's shares down 4.3% for the day, closing at $15.98, off 72 cents, on the New York Stock Exchange. Kroger's shares have fallen 14% this year.

Kroger Co., citing the final effect of the 4 1/2-month California labor dispute on its Ralphs grocery chain, Tuesday said its fiscal first-quarter profit tumbled 25% from a year earlier. The dispute erased $71.6 million of Kroger's net income -- equal to 10 cents a share -- in the 16-week quarter ended May 22, Kroger said. That was the main reason the Cincinnati-based company's overall profit fell to $262.8 million, or 35 cents a share, from $351.5 million, or 46 cents a share, a year earlier.

The owner of the Ralphs grocery chain has set aside $116 million to compensate two rivals under a controversial mutual-aid pact the trio devised in anticipation of the California supermarket strike and lockout, regulatory filings show. Kroger Co.'s payout to Safeway Inc. and Albertsons Inc. will probably be between $72 million and $75 million after taxes, analyst Andrew Wolf of BB&T Capital Markets said Monday.

Kroger Co. said Wednesday that it would close 15 underperforming Ralphs supermarkets in Southern California in the next two months as it girded for competition with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Kroger said it would try to transfer the 600 employees to other Ralphs markets and that layoffs were unlikely. The company said the closings were unrelated to the 4 1/2-month supermarket strike and lockout that recently was settled.

The just-ended California supermarket strike and lockout erased more than $235 million in combined fourth-quarter profit at Kroger Co. and Albertsons Inc., but they said Tuesday that the labor contract they won was worth the price. Figures released by the two companies, which negotiated the pact with Vons and Pavilions owner Safeway Inc., confirmed that the three together suffered at least $1.5 billion in forgone sales during the 4 1/2-month dispute.

Major supermarket chains called their union members in Central and Southern California back to work Monday, but it could be several days before the 852 stores affected by the strike and lockout are fully staffed and restocked. The United Food and Commercial Workers union said members had until Wednesday night to tell the stores where they were on the payroll before Oct. 11 whether they would return. Some could be back on the job as early as today.

Stocks of the supermarket chains in the Central and Southern California labor dispute rose Thursday as investors speculated that the long strike and lockout could soon end. The shares of Safeway Inc., the parent of Vons and Pavilions; Kroger Co., which owns Ralphs; and Albertsons Inc. climbed 1% to 3% as the chains' negotiators met for the ninth straight day with union officials and a federal mediator. Negotiations were expected to continue today.