Albertsons’ Q3 sees new high in Own Brands penetration
Albertsons Cos. released third-quarter financial results for fiscal 2019, and the success of its Own Brands program had a lot to do with the Boise, Idaho-based company seeing an eighth straight quarter of 2.7% sales growth.
The company’s store brands lineup, which they call their Own Brands program, reached a new high in sales penetration of 25.6% for the quarter, according to the earnings report.
Albertsons Own Brands includes O Organics, Open Nature, Signature Select, Signature Reserve, Lucerne and more. The company said Own Brands sales helped drive the total revenue bump for the 12 weeks ended Nov. 30, 2019, as did a 34% increase in online home delivery and “Drive Up and Go” sales.
Own Brands penetration has grown from 23% in fiscal 2017 to 25.6% in the third quarter. The Own Brands team launched 1,100 new items in 2018 alone.
More highlights from the earnings results included a net income of nearly $55 million, an adjusted EBITDA of $634 million that landed slightly above the company’s expectations, and the posting of the eighth-straight consecutive quarter of identical sales growth at 2.7%.
"Our identical sales momentum continued in the third quarter, as our core business continues to deliver strong growth," said Vivek Sankaran, president and CEO, Albertsons Cos. "We are focused on providing our customers with an easy shopping experience, exciting merchandise and friendly customer service in our omnichannel shopping environment, and creating deep and lasting customer relationships."
The company’s 2.7% increase in identical sales was partially offset by a drop in sales from store closures since third quarter 2018 and lower fuel sales, but the uptick in Own Brands sales, and online home delivery and click and collect made up for the losses.
Gross profit margin increased to 28.3% during the quarter, compared with 27.8% for the third quarter 2018. Sales and other revenue increased 1.15% to $47 billion during the first 40 weeks of fiscal 2019 compared with $46.5 billion during the first 40 weeks of fiscal 2018.