LAKELAND, FL - With a boost in its stock price standing and big plans in the works for 2018, Publix looks to be closing out the fiscal 2017 year with its eyes on the horizon.

“I’m delighted we had a significant increase in our stock price,” said Publix CEO and President Todd Jones in the company’s financial release. “I’m proud of our associate owners for their dedicated service to our customers and communities.”

Publix stock is not publicly traded and is made available for sale only to current Publix associates and members of its board of directors. Effective March 1, 2018, Publix’s stock price increased from $36.85 per share to $41.40 per share.

The retailer’s sales for the fourth quarter of 2017, a 13-week period, were $8.9 billion, a 2.1 percent decrease from last year’s 14-week period of $9.1 billion. It said in its financial report, it stated that excluding the additional week in the fourth quarter of 2016, sales for the fourth quarter of 2017 would have increased 5 percent.

Additional highlights from the report included:

• Comparable-store sales for the fourth quarter of 2017 increased 3.2 percent
• Net earnings for the fourth quarter of 2017 were $766.6 million, compared to $544.5 million in 2016, an increase of 40.8 percent
• Earnings per share for the fourth quarter increased to $1.04 for 2017, up from $0.71 per share in 2016
• Outside news sources reported that the coming year has more in store from Publix, both for its stores and its employees

The company said it plans to invest $1.53 billion in 2018 to build new stores, remodel old ones, upgrade technology, and buy shopping centers it anchors, according to a report from the Palm Beach Post, which noted that Publix had nearly $1.5 billion in cash and short-term investments at the end of 2017.

Publix’s store count has reflected growth, as well as its private ownership of those stores. The retailer now owns nearly one-third of its stores, the report said; 371 of its 1,167 locations, or 31.8 percent, as of December 31, 2017.

As for its employees, The Orlando Sentinel reported that Publix plans to raise wages for its hourly employees and some managers.

“We want to continue to invest in our most valuable asset—our associates,” Dwaine Stevens, Media & Community Relations Manager, told the Sentinel in an email. “So with this investment, we will increase the retail pay range for non-management positions as well as assistant department managers and department manager positions.”

The chain did not comment on the real estate moves or strategy.

With much in the works for this retailer and others in the buy-side, AndNowUKnow will continue to keep an eye out for all the latest.

Publix