Yesterday, Albertsons Companies, Inc. reported results for the second quarter of fiscal 2021, which ended September 11, 2021.

“We are pleased with our second-quarter results as we continue to execute our transformation strategy. The favorable consumer backdrop together with our focus on in-store excellence, accelerating our digital and omnichannel capabilities, increasing productivity, and strengthening our talent and culture, are driving increased identical sales and improved performance,” said Vivek Sankaran, CEO. “Based on this strong performance, today we announced a 20% increase to our quarterly dividend, and have raised our fiscal year 2021 outlook.”

Sales and other revenue was $16.5 billion during the 12 weeks ended September 11, 2021, compared to $15.8 billion during the 12 weeks ended September 12, 2020. The increase was primarily driven by the Company’s 1.5% increase in identical sales and higher fuel sales.

Gross profit margin decreased to 28.6% during the second quarter of fiscal 2021 compared to 29.0% during the second quarter of fiscal 2020. Excluding the impact of fuel, gross profit margin was flat compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2020 primarily due to higher product, supply chain and advertising costs, offset by benefits related to productivity initiatives, favorable product mix and improved pharmacy margins related to administering COVID-19 vaccines.

Sankaran then went on to discuss the importance of Retail Brands to their strategy and the impact on the quarters results.

“I will now take a few minutes to walk through the pillars of our transformation strategy that helped drive these results and provide you with an update on our progress. These pillars include in-store excellence, accelerating our digital and omnichannel capabilities, increasing productivity and strengthening our talent and culture. In-store excellence has been elevated by providing the right assortment in each local market using digital tools to enhance replenishment and in-stock conditions, encouraging friendly customer service and enhancing speed and ease of checkout through frictionless and contactless payments. I will briefly touch on recent progress on two elements of our assortment, fresh and Own Brands.

In fresh, our efforts to differentiate our offerings have generated elevated demand with fresh growth outpacing center store by approximately 250 basis points year over year. Sales in each of our fresh categories remain ahead of pre-pandemic levels as customers continue to consume more meals at home. In Own Brands, the introduction of new products as well as the rollout of Own Brands into Albertsons legacy divisions has generated strong growth. Our Q2 sales penetration was 25.2%, up approximately 60 basis points from Q2 ’20.

During the quarter, we launched 85 new products, including ready-to-eat meals, refrigerated Signature Reserve pastas and several O Organics coffee items. Year to date, we have launched over 400 new Own Brands items and are on track to reach our goal of launching over 800 items this fiscal year. Finally, we continue to invest in stores. Through the first half of the year, we opened seven new stores and completed 76 upgrade and remodel projects.”