Whole Foods Posts Healthy 4th Quarter And Fiscal Year Sales, Profit

Whole Foods Market reported 4th quarter profit of $75.5 million, an increase of 31 percent over a year ago, on sales of $2.4 billion. Sales for the quarter increased 12 percent, with comparable store sales up 8.7 percent and identical store sales up 8.4 percent. Diluted earnings per share increased 26 percent to $0.42. For the year ended September 25, sales increased 12 percent to $10.1 billion, and earnings per share increased 35 percent to $1.93. Co-CEO John Mackey said the company was continuing to produce “quality results” and he expected “the lessons we learned during the recession will drive even higher levels of operating performance and returns on invested capital over time.” The company finished the year with total cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash, and investments of $799.1 million, and total debt of $17.9 million.