1100 people to lose their jobs at Supervalu Inc. (NYSE:SVU)- WMT, TGT

Northern, WI 03/27/2013 (avauncer) - Eden Prairie, Minnesota based Supervalu Inc. (NYSE:SVU) announced plans to eliminate 1,100 jobs with the company, as it continues to find ways to cut costs. This news comes on the heels of the company’s recent sale of its Albertsons, Acme, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s and Star Market brands to a unit of Cerberus Capital Management LP. The deal for these units of Supervalu Inc. was completed on March 21.

The cuts by the company will be corporate jobs and those that are store support positions, including both positions held currently and open jobs that will remain unfilled. The cuts will result in a workforce reduction for Supervalu Inc. of around 3% of its current 35,000 employees. The company has also engaged in price cutting and other cost measures.

The cuts are seen as necessary by the company for it to remain competitive with discount retailers Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) and Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT). Company sales have fallen steadily in each of the last 4 years, from $44,564 million in 2009 to $36,100 million in 2012.

The company reported net income of $16.00 million in the 12-week period ending December 1, 2012 on total revenue of $7,913.00 million.Supervalu Inc. (NYSE:SVU) shares closed at $5.12, trading up by 1.39%.