Acme owner plans IPO

Albertsons' combined Acme, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's and Star Market brands now operate 446 stores, 302 store pharmacies and 5 gas stations in the Northeast and Midwest. Albertsons says it boosted combined sales of those 100+-year-old brands by around 9% last year, compared to a 5% loss in the four quarters before it acquired them from SuperValu Inc., in 2013. Overall, Albertsons reported a loss for last year, which the company blamed on acquisition costs.

According to the filing, SuperValu still manages Acme's Lancaster, Pa. distribution center; NAI, the Albertsons subsidiary that includes Acme and the other chains in its group, paid SuperValue $1.154 billion unders that deal for fiscal 2014; that deal runs until March 21, 2018. 

Albertsons' NAI  is still investigating credit card spying malware it found in its computer system, which SuperValu  also manages, in August and again in September 2014. The company agreed to give customers free ID protection for a year in response, and doesn't yet know if it will have to compensate Visa and other credit card systems for losses.

Acme, a unionized chain that dominated Philadelphia groceries into the late 1900s, lost market share as unionized Shop-Rite franchises and nonunion Giant (of Carlisle) and Wegmans expanded here in recent years. Other established players including the A&P and SuperFresh group, now owned by California-based Yucaipa Cos., have struggled with high debt loads due to past mergers.