NEW YORK (Reuters) - Albertsons Inc. (ABS.N), the No. 2 U.S. grocer, on Friday said its quarterly profit fell more than 50 percent, largely owing to two labor disputes, including the protracted Southern California industry strike.þþFor the fiscal third quarter ended Oct. 30, the Boise, Idaho-based chain said earnings slid to $92 million, or 25 cents per share, from $188 million, or 47 cents per share, a year earlier.þþWall Street analysts, on average, were looking for Albertsons to earn 37 cents a share, according to Reuters Research, a unit of Reuters Group Plc.þþAlbertsons, along with its rivals Safeway Inc. (SWY.N) and Kroger Co. (KR.N), is embroiled in a dispute involving some 70,000 striking or locked out Southern California workers opposing planned health care cuts.þþThe action by the 1.4 million-member United Food and Commercial Workers Union began on Oct. 11. Albertsons also was hit by a brief Teamsters strike in the Midwest during August.þþWere it not for the labor disputes, the company said it believed it had been on track to meet analysts' estimates, saying the strikes reduced gross profit by $70 million and total sales by $132 million. Last month, Albertsons withdrew its financial forecasts for the remainder of fiscal 2003 because of the disputes.þþTotal sales rose 1.6 percent to $8.80 billion from $8.66 billion the year before. Identical store sales -- which exclude new or replacement supermarkets -- slid 1.1 percent, it said. Adjusting for the labor disputes, however, identical-store sales would have been up 0.3 percent. þþþþ þ
Source: NY Times
