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Friday, December 12, 2014

Safeway acquisition boosts Sobeys owner Empire's profit, (NYSE: SWY)

Empire Co Ltd, the owner of Canadian grocery chain Sobeys Inc, reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit, boosted by its acquisition of the Canadian assets of U.S. supermarket chain Safeway Inc.Empire's shares, which have rallied in the run-up to the results, were down 2 percent at C$83.72 in midday trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange. It reached a record high of C$86.49 earlier in the session.The company has been closing stores and divesting assets after the Safeway deal was closed in November 2013. It said earlier this year it would close 50 underperforming stores and sell its dairy manufacturing plants in western Canada.Sobeys' same-store sales increased 1.3 percent in the second quarter ended Nov. 1. Total revenue rose about 35 percent to C$5.96 billion ($5.15 billion).

Safeway Inc. (Safeway) is a food and drug retailer in North America. Shares of SWY traded higher by 0.2% or $0.07/share to $34.80. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $26.70 and as high as $36.03. On average, 1423820 shares of SWY exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 339580.



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