NEW YORK — Supervalu is not considering divesting either its retail or distribution business or in any way separating them, but it might consider the possibility if one business compromised the growth or value of the other, Jeff Noddle, chairman and chief executive officer, told the Bank of America Consumer Conference here yesterday. “The supply chain business is part of our infrastructure that’s very predictable, with excellent cash flow, and we know how to make money in that business. But we might think differently if one of two things happened: if we were financially stressed, which we are not; or if we got to a point at which operating both compromised the growth or value of the other. When and if we get to that point, we would consider selling one of the businesses, but I’m not going to speculate on when that might happen.” In other remarks, Noddle said 75% of Supervalu’s retail business is done in markets where it has a No. 1 or No. 2 share, “and we believe there are opportunities for rationalization in other markets. But we are No. 3 in some markets where we get a nice return, so we won’t automatically divest holdings in markets where we are No. 3. In fact, when we sold Scott’s in northern Indiana last year, we held the No. 1 share, but we didn’t like the competitive outlook, with Wal-Mart and Meijer opening a lot of supercenters there. And there are other markets where we might go the other way and become acquirers.”
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