Safeway 1998 Annual Report Download - page 14

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Managing Capital
Safeway, Vons and
Dominick’s opened
46 new stores
and remodeled
234 existing stores.
We opened a new
762,000 square foot
distribution center in
Maryland to better
serve our 123-store
Eastern Division.
We maintained
negative working
capital for the fifth
straight year by managing
inventories and
payables effectively.
We replaced
$560 million of
higher rate long-term
debt at Dominick’s
with lower rate
borrowings.
Continued strong operating results enabled us to
increase capital expenditures again, to $1.2 billion in 1998
from $829 million the year before. Over the past five
years, we have invested $3.5 billion to modernize our
stores, support facilities, warehouse and trucking
equipment, and information systems. Despite the
additional debt incurred to finance the Dominick’s
acquisition, our interest coverage ratio rose to
9.11 times in 1998 from 7.18 times in 1997.