LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - North America's largest supermarket chain Kroger on Thursday posted quarterly sales and profits which came in ahead of expectations as competitive pricing brought customers through its doors in droves.
Kroger, which owns the likes of Ralphs, Harris Teeter and Food 4 Less, lowered prices at its 2,800 outlets across the United States as part of an effort to find new ways to take on rivals such as Wal-Mart, as well as discount retailers Lidl and Aldi.

Revenue rose 4.5% to $27.75bn, beating forecasts of $27.46bn, while net earnings jumped to $391m across the quarter ended 4 November, for a $6m year-on-year gain.

Same-store sales, excluding fuel, grew 1.1% as the group launched its "Restock Kroger" campaign, aimed at reinvigorating its business with a $500m investment into its front of house staff as well as making further cost-cutting moves to further reduce product prices in 2018.

JP Morgan analyst Ken Goldman said on Thursday, "All in, we think this was a better-than-expected print, and though we still have our reservations about this story, the quarter seems healthy versus expectations."

Earnings per share came in at $0.44 per share, an increase of $0.03.

As of 1500 GMT, shares had risen 11.24% to $27.12 each.

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