Safeway boss slams takeover talk
Analysts misrepresenting supermarkets’ performance, says Criado-Perez
November 1 2002
Safeway chief executive Carlos Criado-Perez has told the Financial Times that the City is wilfully misrepresenting the company’s performance.
Criado-Perez said he believed analysts are ignoring the truth about Safeway’s performance because they are interested in fuelling rumours of a takeover.
He singled out analysis of like-for-like sales figures, saying that they are not adequately audited and so should not be given the weight that the City places on them. He said that operators such as Tesco and Sainsbury’s, whose like-for-likes have outstripped those of Safeway, include stores that have increased their selling space.
Criado-Perez told the FT: “Analysts choose to ignore elements that are very important in what is called like-for-like. It makes the measure a nonsense.”
He added that he is still two years from completing his five year revamp of the Safeway business. “I didn’t come to Safeway to sell it or do a takeover. I believe there is still a sucessful independent future.”
* Criado-Perez’s comments came in the day that rival supermarket operator Somerfield sacked its corporate stockbroker ING. The company insisted its decision was unrelated to a recent sell recommendation by ING analyst Clive Black.
