* Sandy-related store closures slow same-store sales
* Shares down 1.5 percent
(Adds details on sales, updates shares)
Nov 7 (Reuters) – Whole Foods Market Inc, the
nation’s largest natural and organic grocery chain, on Wednesday
reported a profit rise in line with forecasts but said
Superstorm Sandy has dragged on sales in the current quarter,
which sent its shares down 1.5 percent.
The company also reiterated its profit and sales forecasts
for 2013.
Whole Foods said same-store sales, which took a hit from
Sandy-related store closures in the Northeast, were up 7.3
percent so far in the current quarter. That’s a deceleration
from the latest quarter, when those sales rose 8.5 percent.
Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods said net income was $112.7
million, or 60 cents per share, for its fiscal fourth quarter
ended Sept. 30. That was up from $75.5 million, or 42 cents per
share, a year earlier, when there was one fewer week in the
quarter.
The result was in line with estimates by analysts, who on
average had expected a profit of 60 cents per share in the
latest quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Total sales for the quarter jumped 24 percent to $2.9
billion.
The Austin, Texas-based company repeated its forecast for
2013 earnings of $2.83 to $2.87 per share on same-store sales
growth of 6.5 to 8.5 percent.
Whole Foods shares, which closed at $95.93 on Nasdaq, fell
to $94.49 in extended trading.
(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Richard
Chang and Alden Bentley)
