CINCINNATI and ORLANDO, Fla., March 4,
2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), America's
largest grocer, is hosting a 2022 Business Update today in
Orlando, Florida, where management
will provide an update on the company's strategy of Leading with
Fresh and Accelerating with Digital. Following the event, Kroger
will host an in-person tour of the company's Customer Fulfillment
Center powered by Ocado, located in Groveland, Florida.
"As we reflect on the past year since our last update, I am
incredibly proud of the way our nearly half a million associates
across the country have continued to live our purpose to feed the
human spirit and provide fresh food to our communities," said
Rodney McMullen, Kroger's chairman
and CEO. "Our proven strategy – Leading with Fresh and Accelerating
with Digital – has generated exceptional financial results as
evidenced by our strong full-year earnings and has also enabled us
to make a positive impact for our shareholders, customers,
associates and communities.
"Kroger is stronger than ever before, and the investments we
have made in innovation, technology, partnerships, and our people,
provide us with a clear path for growth. As we look to the future,
we are leaning into the strength of our core assets and our
competitive moats to convert structural change coming out of the
pandemic into lasting, competitive advantages that will drive
sustainable growth and profitability for the long-term."
During today's Business Update, Kroger's leadership team will
discuss the following key themes with investors:
- Kroger continues to grow its core food business through its
competitive moats -- Fresh, Our Brands, Personalization and
Seamless, which continue to enhance customer loyalty and attract
new customers;
- Kroger's digital strategy is solving customers' needs by
creating a world class seamless ecosystem and enabling the company
to enter into new geographies and serve more customers. During
today's event, the company will announce its entry into three new
cities/regions;
- Kroger is delivering against its strong and sustainable total
shareholder return model and remains committed to delivering total
shareholder return (TSR) of 8 – 11% over time; and,
- Kroger continues to deliver on its Zero Hunger | Zero Waste
commitment that is the centerpiece of the company's environmental,
social, and governance (ESG) strategy.
"Driven by heightened food demand and our consistent execution
over the last two years, our team has delivered results that are
significantly above what our TSR model contemplates," said
Gary Millerchip, Kroger's CFO. "We
expect to continue to build off of this higher base and we remain
committed to delivering TSR of 8 to 11% over time."
Investor Webcast Details
The presentation will broadcast online at ir.kroger.com on
March 4, 2022 from 8:30 a.m. (ET) to approximately 11:00 a.m. (ET). Click on Events &
Presentations to access the event. An on-demand replay of the
presentations will be available starting at approximately
5:00 p.m. (ET) on March 4, 2022.
About Kroger
At The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), we are Fresh for Everyone™ and
dedicated to our Purpose: To Feed the Human Spirit®. We are, across
our family of companies, nearly half a million associates who serve
over 11 million customers daily through a seamless shopping
experience under a variety of banner names. We are committed
to creating #ZeroHungerZeroWaste communities by 2025. To learn more
about us, visit our newsroom and investor relations site.
This press release contains certain statements that constitute
"forward-looking statements" about the future performance of the
company. These statements are based on management's assumptions and
beliefs in light of the information currently available to it. Such
statements are indicated by words or phrases such as "committed,"
"contemplates," "continue," "deliver," "enable" "expect," "future,"
"strategy," and "will." Various uncertainties and other factors
could cause actual results to differ materially from those
contained in the forward-looking statements. These include the
specific risk factors identified in "Risk Factors" in our annual
report on Form 10-K for our last fiscal year and any subsequent
filings, as well as the following:
Kroger's ability to achieve sales, earnings, incremental FIFO
operating profit, and adjusted free cash flow goals may be affected
by: COVID-19 pandemic related factors, risks and challenges,
including among others, the length of time that the pandemic
continues, future variants, mutations or related strains of the
virus and the effectiveness of vaccines against variants, continued
efficacy of vaccines over time and availability of vaccine
boosters, the extent of vaccine refusal, and global access to
vaccines, as well as the effect of vaccine and/or testing
mandates and related regulations, the potential for additional
future spikes in infection and illness rates including breakthrough
infections among the fully vaccinated, and the corresponding
potential for disruptions in workforce availability and customer
shopping patterns, re-imposed restrictions as a result of
resurgence and the corresponding future easing of restrictions, and
interruptions in domestic and global supply chains or capacity
constraints; whether and when the global pandemic will become
endemic, the pace of recovery when the pandemic subsides or becomes
endemic, which may vary materially over time and among the
different regions we serve; labor negotiations; potential work
stoppages; changes in the unemployment rate; pressures in the labor
market; changes in government-funded benefit programs; changes in
the types and numbers of businesses that compete with Kroger;
pricing and promotional activities of existing and new competitors,
including non-traditional competitors, and the aggressiveness of
that competition; Kroger's response to these actions; the state of
the economy, including interest rates, the current inflationary
environment and future potential inflationary and/or deflationary
trends and such trends in certain commodities, products and/or
operating costs; the geopolitical environment; unstable political
situations and social unrest; changes in tariffs; the effect that
fuel costs have on consumer spending; volatility of fuel margins;
manufacturing commodity costs; diesel fuel costs related to
Kroger's logistics operations; trends in consumer spending; the
extent to which Kroger's customers exercise caution in their
purchasing in response to economic conditions; the uncertainty of
economic growth or recession; stock repurchases; changes in the
regulatory environment in which Kroger operates; Kroger's ability
to retain pharmacy sales from third party payors; consolidation in
the healthcare industry, including pharmacy benefit managers;
Kroger's ability to negotiate modifications to multi-employer
pension plans; natural disasters or adverse weather conditions; the
effect of public health crises or other significant catastrophic
events; the potential costs and risks associated with potential
cyber-attacks or data security breaches; the success of Kroger's
future growth plans; the ability to execute our growth strategy and
value creation model, including continued cost savings, growth of
our alternative profit businesses, and our ability to better serve
our customers and to generate customer loyalty and sustainable
growth through our strategic moats of fresh, our brands,
personalization, and seamless; and the successful integration of
merged companies and new partnerships. Our ability to achieve these
goals may also be affected by our ability to manage the factors
identified above. Our ability to execute our financial strategy may
be affected by our ability to generate cash flow.
Kroger assumes no obligation to update the information contained
herein unless required by applicable law. Please refer to Kroger's
reports and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for
a further discussion of these risks and uncertainties.
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SOURCE The Kroger Co.