Safeway Stores Inc

Safeway Inc. said Thursday that fourth-quarter profit fell 2.2% after a year-earlier tax gain. The supermarket chain also said sales growth in the current quarter slowed, pushing its stock down the most in almost four years. Net income decreased to $301.1 million, or 68 cents a share, while revenue rose 6.8% to $13.4 billion, helped by store renovations, Safeway said. Profit matched the average analyst estimate. A year earlier, a tax gain boosted earnings by 8 cents a share.

Shares of Safeway Inc. rose Tuesday after Chief Executive Steve Burd said he might sell or "monetize" part of its Blackhawk Network gift-card unit because it was undervalued. Burd also reiterated the company's 2008 forecast. Shares of Pleasanton, Calif.-based Safeway climbed $1.25, or 4.4%, to $29.70, the biggest gain since Jan. 16. The shares are down 13% this year.

Higher sales at its gas stations and upscale stores helped boost grocer Safeway Inc.'s profit nearly 3% in its third fiscal quarter. The nation's second-biggest grocery chain said Tuesday that its profit rose to $199.7 million, or 46 cents a share, for the three months ended Sept. 6, from $194.6 million, or 44 cents, a year earlier. The results sent Safeway shares up nearly 5% on Tuesday to close at $22.85, gaining $1.08 for the day.

Safeway Inc.'s fourth-quarter profit surged 77% to cap the grocer's best performance in five years, a comeback driven by contentious cost-cutting and a recent makeover that has infused more elegance into its stores. Although the results released Thursday exceeded analyst expectations, the showing still wasn't enough to satisfy investors who were apparently disappointed by Safeway's slowing sales growth and conservative outlook for this year. Safeway shares fell by more than 3%.

Of all those who've lauded Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan for universal health coverage -- Democratic lawmakers, administration factotums, think-tank policy wonks and assorted others -- none has stood out quite like Steve Burd, the chairman and chief executive of Safeway Inc.

Safeway Inc. rewarded its chief executive with a 2006 pay package valued at $11.5 million for leading the grocer to its highest profit in five years, according to an analysis of a regulatory filing. Steve Burd, Pleasanton, Calif.-based Safeway's CEO for the last 14 years, received $2.64 million in nonequity incentives to supplement a $1.33-million salary and $212,298 in perquisites, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Safeway Inc.'s first-quarter profit rose 22% with the nation's second-largest grocer off to its fastest start in six years, but management said Thursday that it was too early to raise earnings projections for the rest of 2007. The Pleasanton, Calif.-based company made $174.4 million, or 39 cents a share, during the three months that ended March 24, compared with $142.9 million, or 32 cents, a year earlier.

Responding to concerns from members of Congress, Safeway Inc. is halting the sale of meat packaged in carbon monoxide gas, which makes the products appear fresher. Reps. John D. Dingell and Bart Stupak, both Michigan Democrats, wrote last month to three large meatpacking companies and to Safeway, the country's biggest grocery chain, asking them to stop the practice. Safeway was the first to respond. In a letter to Dingell and Stupak, the Pleasanton, Calif.

Safeway Inc.'s second-quarter profit slipped 11% because of an unusual twist on its income taxes, but the second-largest U.S. grocer remained on a sales upswing that has been propelled by a makeover of its stores. The results released Thursday were overshadowed by concerns that rising food and dairy prices might squeeze Safeway's profit margins for the rest of the year. Those worries contributed to a more than 2% decrease in its stock price. The Pleasanton, Calif.-based company earned $218.

Safeway Inc.'s fiscal third-quarter profit climbed 12% to match analysts' projections, the latest payoff from the grocer's recent recipe of cutting labor costs while spending on store improvements to attract more shoppers. The Pleasanton, Calif.-based company earned $194.6 million, or 44 cents a share, during the three months ended Sept. 8. That compared with $173.5 million, or 39 cents, in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue rose a lower-than-expected 4% to $9.78 billion.