SCARBOROUGH, Maine -- Hannaford Bros. here reported increased sales and earnings for the third quarter and nine months ended Sept. 30.
For the quarter, sales increased 5% to $653.9 million from $622.6 million. For the 39 weeks, sales rose 12.4% to $1.89 billion from $1.68 billion.
Earnings for the three-month period rose 3.2% to $19.7 million from $19.1 million. For nine months, earnings increased 17% to $53.3 million from $45.6 million.
Hugh G. Farrington, president and chief executive officer, said third-quarter and nine-month results were positively affected by the company's expansion program, which was more heavily weighted toward the second half of the year. He also said third-quarter results were boosted by Wilson's Supermarkets, a Wilmington, N.C.-based chain of 20 Southeastern stores acquired by Hannaford in July 1994.
Farrington said Hannaford's 1995 expansion program "was heavily weighted toward the last quarter of the year and toward opening new markets in the Southeast." The 1995 program includes "seven newly constructed stores in the Southeast and six recently acquired stores in Richmond, Va. [acquired from Farm Fresh in July], as well as a number of new and relocated stores in the Northeast, which will increase our retail selling area by over 16%," he said.
"Our current projections for 1996 indicate that our retail selling area should increase by nearly 13%, with the majority of the expansion occurring in the Southeast."