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SVU +3.19% premarket to $20.00<>(NYSE:SVU) announces that it struck an agreement to acquire Associated Grocers of Florida in a deal valued at approximately $180M.

The company says the transaction will help it expand its operations into a new part of Florida as well as provides new opportunities to bring its products and services to Associated Grocers' diverse customer base in South Florida.

"Associated Grocers represents a great opportunity for us to further expand our wholesale business into another important region," says Supervalu CEO Mark Gross.

The transaction is expected to close by the end this year.



Supervalu (NYSE:SVU) reports Wholesale net sales rose 58% to $2.74B in Q2, primarily due to sales from the acquired Unified Grocers business, sales to new customers and increased sales to new stores operated by existing customers.

Retail net sales squeezed 1.1% to $1.02B and identical store sales down 3.5%.

Gross margin rate fell 280 bps to 11.3% primarily due to the change in business segment mix, with Wholesale representing a larger portion of total sales and gross profit.

Adjusted SG&A expense rate improved 250 bps to 9.7%.

FY2018 Guidance: Net earnings from continuing operations: $31M to $50M; Adjusted EBITDA: $475M to $495M.