Supervalu, one of the nation's largest grocery store operators, is in the midst of a pricy turnaround effort In recent years it has slashed jobs and closed stores in an effort to combat tough competition and aggressive price-cutting. In February it announced it would eliminate 800 jobs in a continued effort to boost margins and lower prices.
The chain's big losses last year are mostly the result of store closure write-downs and payouts to departing employees. Same-store sales also took a hit, declining 5% from the previous year. One bright spot was the company's Save-A-Lot chain, with its roughly 1,300 locations. The company's year-end earnings beat expectations, meaning that some analysts are holding out hope for that turnaround, even though the company was one of the worst performers on the S&P 500 last year.
