CINCINNATI, Dec. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kroger Co.'s
(NYSE: KR) Board of Directors today authorized a new $1 billion share repurchase program, replacing
the current authorization, which had approximately $157 million remaining as of December 29, 2021.
"We are customer obsessed and focused on leading with fresh and
accelerating with digital, which is building momentum in our
business and will drive Kroger's long-term success," said
Rodney McMullen, Kroger's chairman
and CEO. "Kroger's share repurchase authorization reflects our
Board of Directors' confidence in the strength of our free cash
flow and our ability to deliver consistently strong and attractive
total shareholder returns."
Under the repurchase program, Kroger is authorized to repurchase
its outstanding common shares from time to time in open market or
privately-negotiated transactions, including accelerated share
repurchase transactions, block trades, or pursuant to trading plans
intended to comply with SEC Rule 10b5-1. The share repurchase
program has no expiration date but may be suspended or terminated
by the Board of Directors at any time.
Capital Allocation Strategy
Kroger continues to generate strong free cash flow and remains
committed to investing in the business to drive long-term
sustainable net earnings growth, maintaining its current investment
grade debt rating, and returning excess free cash flow to
shareholders via share repurchase and a growing dividend over
time.
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 "ability,"
"committed," "confidence," 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, new variants of the virus and the effectiveness of
vaccines against variants, continued efficacy of vaccines over time
and availability of vaccine boosters, the extent of continued
vaccine disinformation and vaccine refusal, and global access to
vaccines, as well as the effect of emerging 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; the pace of recovery when the pandemic subsides; labor
negotiations or disputes; 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
inflationary and deflationary trends in certain commodities;
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;
changes in inflation or deflation in product and operating costs;
stock repurchases; 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, including the coronavirus;
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 widening and deepening 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.