Today. Moody's affirms Kroger's Baa1 rating13 Nov 2019 13:29
New York, November 12, 2019 -- Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") today affirmed The Kroger Co.'s ("Kroger") senior unsecured rating at Baa1 and also affirmed the company's Commercial Paper rating of Prime-2. The outlook remains stable.
"While the competitive pressures in food retailing continue to impact the supermarket space, Kroger's large scale, its dominant market position vis-à-vis other traditional food retailers, its store format diversification, strong corporate brands, and strategic investments under its Restock Kroger initiative will provide the impetus for topline and earnings growth in the next 12-18 months," stated Moody's Vice President Mickey Chadha. "We expect Kroger to continue to report identical store sales growth, increase opearting profit and maintain a balanced financial policy, the corner stone of which is its 2.3-2.5 times reported net debt to EBITDA target", Chadha further stated.