Safeway 2013 Annual Report Download - page 10

Table of Contents
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Safeway considers its trademarks to be of material importance to its business and actively defends and enforces its rights.
Working Capital At year-end 2013, working capital consisted of $ 8.5 billion in current assets and $5.9 billion in current liabilities. Normal
operating fluctuations in these substantial balances can result in changes to cash flow from operations presented in the consolidated
statements of cash flows that are not necessarily indicative of long-term operating trends . There are no unusual industry practices or
requirements relating to working capital items.
Seasonality Blackhawk receives a significant portion of the cash inflow from the sale of third-party prepaid cards late in the fourth quarter of
the year and generally remits the cash, less commissions, to the card partners early in the first quarter of the following year.
Safeway's first three fiscal quarters contain 12 weeks. The fourth quarters of 2013, 2012 and 2011 contain 16 weeks. See Note V to the
consolidated financial statements set forth in Part II, Item 8 of this report.
Competition Food retailing is very competitive. The principal competitive factors that affect the Company’s business are location, quality,
price, service, selection and condition of assets.
We face intense competition from traditional grocery retailers, non-traditional competitors such as supercenters and club stores, as well as
from specialty and niche supermarkets, drug stores, dollar stores, convenience stores and restaurants. Safeway and its competitors engage
in price competition which, from time to time, has adversely affected operating margins in the Company’s markets.
Raw Materials Various agricultural commodities constitute the principal raw materials used by the Company in the manufacture of its food
products. Management believes that raw materials for its products are not in short supply, and all are readily available from a wide variety of
independent suppliers.
Compliance with Environmental Laws The Company’s compliance with federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations that have
been enacted or adopted regulating the discharge of materials into the environment or otherwise related to the protection of the environment
has not had and is not expected to have a material adverse effect upon the Company’s financial position or results of operations.
Employees At year-end 2013, Safeway had more than 138,000 full- and part-time employees. Just over 75% of Safeway's employees are
covered by collective bargaining agreements negotiated with union locals affiliated with one of seven different international unions. There are
almost 400 such agreements, typically having three- to five-year terms. Accordingly, Safeway renegotiates a significant number of these
agreements every year.
During 2013, contracts covering approximately 28,000 employees were ratified, excluding Canadian operations and Dominick's. In
particular, United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (“UFCW”) collective bargaining agreements which covered
approximately 25,000 employees, primarily in stores in the Company's Northwest and Eastern divisions, were ratified.
Available Information Safeway’s investor Web site is located at www.safeway.com/investor_relations. You may access our Securities
and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filings free of charge at our corporate Web site promptly after such material is electronically filed with, or
furnished to, the SEC. We also maintain certain corporate governance documents on our Web site, including the Company’s Corporate
Governance Guidelines, our Director Independence Standards, the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics for the Company’s corporate
directors, officers and employees, and the charters for our Audit, Nominating and Corporate Governance, and Executive Compensation
committees. We will provide a copy of any such documents to any stockholder who requests it. We do not intend for information found on the
Company’s Web site to be part of this document.
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