Grocery retailer Whole Foods Market has reported sales for the full year ended September 26 increased 12% to $9bn (£5.56bn), with like-for-likes increasing 7.1%. EBITDA increased 29% to $713.6m (£440.9m). These results included Federal Trade Commission-related legal costs of $2.5m, compared with $14.7m in the prior year and a gain of $3.2m from the sale of a non-operating property.

John Mackey, co-chief executive and co-founder said: “Our ability to perform against tougher sales comparisons has continued to surpass our expectations. We attribute much of our success to the progress we have made in our relative price positioning and to our initiatives in areas such as healthy eating.”

During the fourth quarter, the retailer opened one new store and expects to open three more in the first quarter of fiscal 2011, two of which have already opened. Total store count now stands at 301.