- Operating, general and administrative (OG&A) costs as a percentage of sales declined 19 basis points to 18.17 percent. Excluding the effect of retail fuel operations, the increase in legal reserves, and stock option expense, OG&A declined 16 basis points.
- Capital investment, including changes in construction-in-progress payables, totaled $449.9 million, compared to $400.6 million a year ago.
- Kroger repurchased 6.7 million shares of stock at an average price of $19.90 for a total investment of $133.5 million. At the end of the first quarter, there was $486.9 million remaining under the $500 million stock buyback announced last month. Since January 2000, Kroger has invested $3.1 billion to repurchase 162.4 million shares at an average price of $19.17 per share. Kroger expects to buy back stock in 2006 in accordance with the Company's financial strategy of using one- third of free cash flow for debt reduction and two-thirds for share repurchase and cash dividend payments.
- Net total debt was $6.6 billion, a reduction of $829.3 million from a year ago and a reduction of $2.1 billion since January 2000. Net total debt includes a reduction of $526.1 million to reflect temporary cash investments (Table 5). Total debt was $7.2 billion, a reduction of $318.2 million from a year ago.
Kroger now expects identical supermarket sales growth, excluding fuel sales, to exceed 4.0 percent for the balance of the year. The Company originally forecasted identical supermarket sales growth, excluding fuel sales, in excess of 3.5 percent for fiscal 2006.
-Ltd..jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Thermore (Far East) Ltd.")
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Limited (TSllC Ltd)")
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Taiwan Textile Federation (TTF)")
