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WHOLE FOODS PLANS TO DOUBLE STORE BASE BY 2004

AUSTIN, Texas -- Whole Foods Market here said last week it plans to open 20-25 new stores a year for the next several years to meet its goal of doubling its store base to 200 units with $4 billion in sales by the end of 2004.In financial results released last week for the fiscal year ended Sept. 26, the company said sales rose 15% to $1.6 billion for the 101 Whole Foods stores.Chris Hitt, president

AUSTIN, Texas -- Whole Foods Market here said last week it plans to open 20-25 new stores a year for the next several years to meet its goal of doubling its store base to 200 units with $4 billion in sales by the end of 2004.

In financial results released last week for the fiscal year ended Sept. 26, the company said sales rose 15% to $1.6 billion for the 101 Whole Foods stores.

Chris Hitt, president and chief executive officer, said in a conference call with securities analysts last week that, despite the addition of 13 new stores during the fiscal year, the sales increase for the year fell below the company's four-year compounded annual growth rate of 21%.

"This is primarily because our new store growth was significantly weighted toward the second half of the year," he said, including five stores that opened during the fourth quarter. Sales were also down, he said, "because of sales declines at Amrion [the company's nutritional supplements manufacturing and distribution arm].

"Although we saw modest sales growth in fiscal 1999, we expect to deliver a 20-25% increase in our top line in 2000 as new store openings ramp up," Hitt said.

Since the fourth quarter ended, Whole Foods has opened two new stores, including its first in Seattle, Hitt said. Three more stores are scheduled to open before the end of the calendar year, he added -- in Santa Fe, N.M.; Lake Calhoun, Minn., and Winston-Salem, N.C.

In other comments during the conference call, the company said:

It spent $150 million on capital investments in fiscal 1999 and contemplates spending $170-180 million in fiscal 2000.

Its stores average 26,000 square feet, with sales per gross square foot of $661 -- "well above that of the supermarket industry on average, as well as our natural foods competitors."

The Whole Foods store that opened in Torrance, Calif., during the fourth quarter is 53,000 square feet, the company's largest unit.

Whole Foods said sales for the year rose 13% to $1.6 billion, with comparable store sales up 7.7%. The company said sales at its core retail stores rose 14.4% to $1.5 billion for the year, while sales at Amrion fell 5.9% and sales at Allegro Coffee Co. and WholeFoods.com, the company's internet commerce subsidiary, experienced a loss of $9.5 million, compared with a loss of $6.6 million a year ago.

The company said net income for the year fell 7.1% to $42.2 million; excluding merger expenses and non-recurring charges, the company said net income rose 3% to $47.9 million and was negatively impacted by start-up losses at WholeFoods.com (7 cents per share); a 29% drop in pre-tax profits at Amrion (6 cents per share), and Y2K remediation costs (2 cents per share).

For the 12-week quarter sales increased 15% to $375.2 million and comps rose 8.3%. Sales at Amrion declined 18% to $7.8 million and sales at Allegro Coffee and WholeFoods.com were flat at $2.9 million.

Net income for the quarter fell 50.6% to $5.5 million; excluding merger-related?? expenses and non-recurring charges, the company said net income was up 1.8% to $11.3 million for the fourth quarter.