Albertson's, Inc., Holds Investor Conferences.

Business Editors

BOISE, Idaho--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 30, 2001

Albertson's, Inc. (NYSE:ABS), held a conference for analysts and institutional investors today in New York, NY to update the investment community on the Company's strategic initiatives. A similar presentation will be held in Boston, MA on Wednesday, January 31, 2001.

Albertson's executive management discussed details of the Company's current strategic initiatives. The initiatives, as outlined by the Company, focus on optimizing the new organizational structure, meeting diverse customer needs and maximizing return on capital. "Our strategy builds upon our strengths and acknowledges our challenges. This plan incorporates fresh ideas, new methods and innovative solutions," said Peter Lynch, president and chief operating officer.

A major component of the strategic initiatives involves the recently announced plan to align the Company as 19 self-sufficient divisions; eliminating the region structure and effectively flattening out the organization. "This new structure will eliminate inefficiencies and position the Company to be faster, more flexible and more in touch with our customers," said Mr. Lynch. "It allows us to react more quickly to competitive moves on a local level -- and that is critical in today's highly competitive environment."

The Company also outlined the benefits provided by the newly created Corporate General Merchandise function. "General merchandise is not just for drugstores -- we need to leverage our size and expertise in this area across all of our stores -- food and drug," said Kevin Tripp, executive vice president, drug and general merchandise. Likewise, a centralized Pharmacy Operations group will now support all pharmacies in the 19 divisions, allowing the Company to leverage its pharmacy business on a national scale and align the organization to compete more effectively.

On the expense side, plans to reduce operating expenses by $250 million in 2001 remain in place. The Company will focus efforts on the evaluation of work processes at both the retail and corporate level. This approach will allow the Company to identify and eliminate any unnecessary costs associated with redundant or non-value added work processes, resulting in more substantial and sustainable cost savings.

In conjunction with the Company's strategy to increase return on capital, Albertson's is focused on increasing asset turnover and allocating capital more efficiently and strategically. The Company's five-year capital expenditure plan, which covers fiscal years 2001 -- 2005 calls for a total of $10 billion in capital expenditures, including leases, and an expected 4% annual growth in net retail square footage. Under the fiscal 2001 capital expenditure plan, the Company expects to spend $1.9 billion, including leases, to build 80 combination stores, 75 drugstores and 105 fuel centers, and complete 115 major remodels and 75 minor remodels. Execution of the five-year capital expenditure program is designed to strengthen market share in key markets and to return the Company to pre-merger debt-to-total capitalization levels by fiscal 2005.

The Company also announced a new approach to integration of the Midwest and Drug division operations. "The integration of American Stores is mostly complete and we will convert systems in the Midwest and Drug divisions one system at a time. Consistent with our different go-to-market strategies, systems may vary across the different operating areas. We are now running a common profit and loss statement for the entire Company, our pharmacy systems are fully integrated ahead of schedule, and we have the information we need to run the business," said Mr. Lynch.

"We have a clear focus and direction, and we will continue to fine-tune these strategies to meet future business needs. We have charted our course and are fully engaged in moving this Company forward," concluded Mr. Lynch.

The conference will be broadcast live over the Internet today from 8:00 a.m. (EST) to approximately 10:00 a.m. (EST) and on Wednesday, January 31st from 8:00 a.m. (EST) to approximately 10:00 a.m. (EST) at www.albertsons.com and www.streetfusion.com. Recorded replays of both presentations will also be available on both websites for approximately one week following the presentations.

Albertson's, Inc., is one of the largest retail food and drug chains in the United States. Based in Boise, Idaho, the Company currently operates over 2,500 retail stores in 36 states across the United States.

The Company does not undertake to update forward-looking statements in this news release, if any, to reflect actual results, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting such forward-looking information. Assumptions and other information that could cause actual results to differ from those set forth in the forward-looking information can be found in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company's Form 10-Q.