Getting your player ready...
CINCINNATI — The Kroger Co. is hurting from California’s especially soft economy and the overall bite of a dollar-by-dollar battle underway nationwide for recession- pinched households’ grocery spending.
The owner of King Soopers and City Market grocery chains in Colorado reported Tuesday an $875 million third- quarter loss, largely because of a $1.05 billion charge to write down the value of its Ralphs division in California, which it acquired a decade ago. Even without that, its profit fell more than 25 percent.
Kroger reported a loss of $1.35 a share, compared with profit of $237.7 million, or 36 cents a share, a year ago. Sales rose slightly to $17.7 billion.
