Albertsons’ Q4 sales accompanied by strong March, April numbers

Albertsons' identical store sales surged 47% during March before decelerating to a still impressive 21% growth rate in April, the company revealed Thursday morning along with the release of fourth quarter results.

The company said since its fiscal year ended on February 29 it has experienced significant increases in customer traffic, product demand and overall basket size in stores and online as customers adjust to the circumstances around COVID-19. As a result, identical sales increased 47% during the four week period ended March 28 and increased 21% during the four weeks ended April 25, giving the company a blended total for the two months of 34%.

"We are pleased that our momentum continued as we closed fiscal 2019, with improved performance on the top and bottom line. However, the world has changed since then, and we are heavily focused on supporting our associates, our customers and the communities we serve as we respond to the increased demand resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic," said Vivek Sankaran, Albertsons president and CEO. "We are so proud of the efforts of our store, distribution and manufacturing teams, whose work has been heroic in the face of this crisis, and we thank them for everything they continue to do. Both our stores and our online business are seeing significantly increased demand as consumers shift to more food-at-home."

The release of monthly sales figures is a break from Albertsons typical disclosure practices, but these aren’t normal times. Companies such as Kroger, Ahold Delhaize USA and Target also previously provided monthly details that offered a look at COVID-19 induced buying behaviors. Albertsons shared its details Thursday morning in conjunction with financial results for the fourth quarter ended February 29. Those figures were impressive too, which is a good thing considering the company filed for a public stock offering on March 6. However, its cryptic outlook for future performance is likely to delay the IPO.    

The company said it was unable to provide a full reconciliation of the GAAP and non-GAAP measures used in the 2020 outlook guidance without unreasonable effort because it is not possible to predict certain of the adjustment items with a reasonable degree of certainty.

“This information is dependent upon future events and may be outside of the company's control and its unavailability could have a significant impact on 2020 GAAP financial results,” the company said in a statement.

Nevertheless, Albertsons product solid results during its fourth quarter. Identical store sales increased 1.8%, making it the ninth consecutive quarter of increased sales. Full year identical sales increased 2.1%.

Total sales for the 13 week fourth quarter increased to $15.4 billion from $14 billion during the prior year’s 12 week fourth quarter.