Safeway 2013 Annual Report Download - page 35

Table of Contents
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needed to grow the business (including at times when interest rates fluctuate). Omitting interest, taxes and the other enumerated items
provides a financial measure that is useful to management in assessing operating performance because the cash Safeway's business
operations generate enables us to incur debt and thus to grow.
Management believes that “Adjusted EBITDA from Continuing Operations” also facilitates comparisons of Safeway's results of operations
with those of companies having different capital structures. Since the levels of indebtedness, tax structures, discontinued operations, property
impairment charges, methodologies in calculating LIFO expense and unconsolidated affiliates that other companies have are different from
the Company's, we omit these amounts to facilitate investors' ability to make these comparisons. Similarly, we omit depreciation and
amortization because other companies may employ a greater or lesser amount of owned property, and because, in management's
experience, whether a store is new or one that is fully or mostly depreciated does not necessarily correlate to the contribution such store
makes to operating performance.
Management also believes that investors, analysts and other interested parties view our ability to generate “Adjusted EBITDA from
Continuing Operations” as an important measure of our operating performance and that of other companies in our industry.
“Adjusted EBITDA from Continuing Operations” is a useful indicator of Safeway's ability to service debt, fund share repurchases and pay
dividends that management believes will enhance stockholder value. “Adjusted EBITDA from Continuing Operations” is also a useful
indicator of cash available for investing activities.
The computation of Adjusted EBITDA from Continuing Operations is provided below. Adjusted EBITDA from Continuing Operations should
not be considered as an alternative to income from continuing operations, net of tax, or cash flow from operating activities (which are
determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP). Other companies may define Adjusted EBITDA differently and, as a result, such measures may
not be comparable to Safeway’s Adjusted EBITDA from Continuing Operations (dollars in millions).
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
Adjusted EBITDA from Continuing Operations:
Income from continuing operations, net of tax 
Add (subtract):
Noncontrolling interests 
Income taxes 
Interest expense 
Depreciation expense 
LIFO income 
Share-based employee compensation 
Property impairment charges 
Equity in earnings of unconsolidated affiliate 
Dividend from unconsolidated affiliate 
Impairment of notes receivable 
Total Adjusted EBITDA from Continuing Operations 
Shelf Registration On October 24, 2011, the Company filed a shelf registration statement (the “Shelf”) with the SEC which permits
Safeway to issue an unlimited amount of debt securities and/or common stock. The Shelf expires on October 24, 2014. The Safeway Board
of Directors has authorized the issuance of up to
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