Safeway rakes up £366m net income after loss last year

Grocery chain Safeway reported net income for the fiscal year ended January 1, 2011 amounted to $590m (£366m), compared with a net loss of $1.1bn (£682.4m) reported last year. Sales for the full year edged up 0.5% to $41.05bn (£25.5bn). Excluding fuel, identical store sales declined 2% while like-for-like sales were down 1.8%. During the year, Safeway invested $838m (£519.9m) in capital expenditure, opened 14 new Lifestyle stores, completed 60 Lifestyle remodels and closed 45 stores.