Smart And Final Iris Corp

Warehouse grocer Smart & Final Inc. said Wednesday that it agreed to settle an overtime pay lawsuit filed by California employees and would therefore take a $19-million pretax charge against third-quarter earnings. Lawyers for the workers said the company would pay $22 million under the settlement. The class-action suit on behalf of 13,000 current and former hourly employees alleged that the retailer did not properly calculate pay for overtime or for rest and meal breaks for six years.

It was a grocery that grew along with Southern California, opening in 1871 as a small store on Los Angeles Street, finding new owners named Mr. Smart and Mr. Final and expanding into a chain of small warehouse-style stores. Now Smart & Final Inc. is changing again. The company said Tuesday that it had agreed to be acquired by New York private equity firm Apollo Management in the latest wave of money to flow into Southern California supermarkets.

You can tell a lot about a place by knowing a little about the people who started the best-known businesses there. The knowledge tells you, for instance, what it has taken to succeed and survive in the local economy. Although Southern California is sometimes accused of having a short memory about its past, not all its businesses have been flashes in the pan. In fact, it has no shortage of long-established, successful companies.

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%.

Warehouse food retailer Smart & Final Inc. is test marketing a new product -- itself. The City of Commerce-based chain said Monday that it planned to hire legal and financial advisors to help it determine "strategic alternatives," Wall Street-speak that usually means selling the company. Analysts say the 250-store chain has been hampered by a majority shareholder that has shown little interest in the business but a sale could position Smart & Final for significant growth.

Home Depot Inc. said its fourth-quarter profit jumped 38% to $578 million, or 25 cents a share, a penny better than expectations, as sales grew 26% to $9.17 billion. Limited Inc.'s profit from operations rose 37% to $294.9 million, or $1.31 a share, well beyond the $1.18 a share analysts expected, on a 4.9% rise in sales to $3.29 billion. Limited also said it plans to buy back up to $200 million of its shares. Smart & Final Inc. posted fourth-quarter operating earnings of $5.

Warehouse supermarket chain Smart & Final Inc. reported first-quarter profit dropped sharply year-over-year, as sales were weakened by record rainfall in the company's key Southern California region. Net income fell to $3.2 million, or 11 cents a share, from $6.2 million, or 22 cents, a year earlier. Sales rose 1% to $427.6 million from $423.5 million, said the City of Commerce-based company.

Smart & Final Inc. said its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings more than doubled despite a decline in sales. The City of Commerce-based operator of warehouse food and foodservice supply stores posted net income of $9.3 million, or 21 cents a share, up from $4.2 million, or 14 cents, a year earlier. Revenue declined to $457 million from $471 million.

Smart & Final Inc. reported fourth-quarter net income of $1.5 million, or 5 cents a share, compared with $3.9 million, or 13 cents, in the year-earlier period. Sales increased 4% to $467.8 million.

Smart & Final Inc., the City of Commerce-based operator of 250 warehouse grocery stores in the Western U.S., said late Sunday that it would hire advisors and review its options as its largest shareholder plans to sell assets. The company, founded in downtown Los Angeles in 1871, said majority shareholder Casino Guichard-Perrachon of France planned to sell "a significant portion of its non-core assets" by the end of 2007.

Smart & Final Inc., which operates 250 food warehouses in California, other Western states and Mexico, said second-quarter profit sank 29% as higher operating costs outweighed modest sales growth. Net income declined to $5.8 million, or 18 cents a share, from $8.1 million, or 25 cents, a year earlier. The City of Commerce-based company said a strategic review resulted in a charge of 2 cents a share. Sales rose 2% to $493.7 million.

Warehouse food retailer Smart & Final Inc. is test marketing a new product -- itself. The City of Commerce-based chain said Monday that it planned to hire legal and financial advisors to help it determine "strategic alternatives," Wall Street-speak that usually means selling the company. Analysts say the 250-store chain has been hampered by a majority shareholder that has shown little interest in the business but a sale could position Smart & Final for significant growth.

Smart & Final Inc., the City of Commerce-based operator of 250 warehouse grocery stores in the Western U.S., said late Sunday that it would hire advisors and review its options as its largest shareholder plans to sell assets. The company, founded in downtown Los Angeles in 1871, said majority shareholder Casino Guichard-Perrachon of France planned to sell "a significant portion of its non-core assets" by the end of 2007.

Smart & Final Inc. said its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings more than doubled despite a decline in sales. The City of Commerce-based operator of warehouse food and foodservice supply stores posted net income of $9.3 million, or 21 cents a share, up from $4.2 million, or 14 cents, a year earlier. Revenue declined to $457 million from $471 million.

Warehouse grocer Smart & Final Inc. said Wednesday that it agreed to settle an overtime pay lawsuit filed by California employees and would therefore take a $19-million pretax charge against third-quarter earnings. Lawyers for the workers said the company would pay $22 million under the settlement. The class-action suit on behalf of 13,000 current and former hourly employees alleged that the retailer did not properly calculate pay for overtime or for rest and meal breaks for six years.

Warehouse supermarket chain Smart & Final Inc. reported first-quarter profit dropped sharply year-over-year, as sales were weakened by record rainfall in the company's key Southern California region. Net income fell to $3.2 million, or 11 cents a share, from $6.2 million, or 22 cents, a year earlier. Sales rose 1% to $427.6 million from $423.5 million, said the City of Commerce-based company.

Smart & Final Earnings Nearly Double: The Los Angeles-based operator of nonmembership grocery warehouse stores earned $6.3 million, or 30 cents a share, in the second quarter, a 99% increase over the same period in 1995. The company said earnings during the quarter a year ago were lower partly because of $2.1 million in costs associated with the opening of a distribution facility in Northern California. Same-store sales, or revenue from stores open at least 12 months, rose 4.2%.

Smart & Final Inc. said Monday that its third-quarter profit soared as the warehouse retailer divested itself of its struggling food service operations. Los Angeles-based Smart & Final said net income increased to $11.7 million, or 36 cents a share, for the quarter ended Oct. 3, up from $916,000, or 3 cents, a year earlier. Sales at the 231-store chain increased 12% to $603.2 million from $538.4 million last year.