Weis Markets' Positive Momentum in Q4 Contributes to Strong FY22

Regional grocer’s comparable-store sales increase 9.5%

2/27/2023

Weis’ net sales totaled $1.31 billion for its fourth quarter, up 18%.

Weis Markets, Inc.’s focus on customer experience, along with leveraging store level and supply chain efficiencies, helped offset some of the current inflationary pressures of higher product, fuel, utilities and other operating costs during its fourth quarter.

Net sales totaled $1.31 billion for the 14-week fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2022, compared to $1.11 billion for the 13-week fourth quarter ended Dec. 25, 2021, up 18%. Income from operations rose almost 11%. Weis’ fourth quarter comparable-store sales, adjusted for an additional week in 2022, increased 9.5% on an individual year-over-year basis and increased 16.4% on a two-year stacked basis following the increase of 14.1% for the same period in 2020.

The Mid-Atlantic food retailer’s fourth quarter net income (after provision for income taxes) totaled $28.88 million compared to $22.61 million in 2021, up 27.7%. Fourth quarter earnings per share totaled $1.07 compared to $0.84 per share in 2021.

“We continued our positive momentum in the fourth quarter which contributed to a strong fiscal year 2022,” said Weis Markets Chairman, President and CEO Jonathan H. Weis. “Our fourth quarter results were favorably impacted by disciplined loyalty marketing programs and ongoing price investments across the store.”

To help alleviate some of the strain on customers’ wallets during the 2022 Thanksgiving season, Weis introduced its Inflation Buster Thanksgiving Feast, a shopping guide for a full Thanksgiving dinner, including turkey and all the fixings for six people, for less than $30.

Shoppers also took advantage of the Weis Holiday Rewards program that helped them qualify for free turkeys, tofurkeys, lasagna and macaroni and cheese, or discounts on a variety of its best-selling turkeys, hams and other holiday items in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving Day.

In an effort to further enhance its customer experience, the grocer deployed the ELERA commerce platform from Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions in December 2022. The solution provides unified commerce, loyalty, promotions and frictionless produce recognition for shoppers. ELERA accelerates digitization by giving retailers a platform to develop, iterate and scale new applications and services across touchpoints and devices that span their entire physical and online store infrastructure.

The solution encompasses Weis’ e-commerce platform and 197 physical stores with 2,500-plus retail checkout touchpoints, including point of sale (POS), self-checkout/dual-use lanes and mobile, throughout the grocer’s footprint. These tie seamlessly to the company’s existing POS hardware infrastructure without disruption.

Meanwhile, net sales totaled $4.70 billion for Weis' 53-week fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2022, compared to $4.22 billion for the 52-week fiscal year ended Dec. 25, 2021, up 11.2%. Income from operations rose 7%. Fiscal year 2022 comparable-store sales, adjusted for an additional week in 2022, increased 8.8% on an individual year-over-year basis and increased 10.5% on a two-year stacked basis following the increase of 16.4% for the same period in 2020.

The company’s fiscal year 2022 net income (after provision for income taxes) totaled $125.20 million compared to $108.85 million in 2021, up 15%. Fiscal year 2022 earnings per share totaled $4.65 compared to $4.05 per share in 2021.

Mr. Weis also mentioned the company continued to reinvest in its future through execution of its multi-year capital expenditures program, completing 10 store remodels, three new fuel centers, one new store, one rebuild and a record number of smaller projects to help serve our customers.

"We are grateful to our dedicated store, supply chain, manufacturing, and support center associates who make our success possible,” he said.

The Weis board of directors declared on Feb. 2 a quarterly cash dividend of $0.34 per share to shareholders of record as of Feb. 13, payable on Feb. 27.

Sunbury, Pa.-based Weis Markets operates stores in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Virginia and West Virginia. The company is No. 61 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. PG also named Weis as a top regional grocer for 2023.