The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) Q3 2023 Earnings Conference Call November 30, 2023 10:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Robert Quast - Senior Director, Investor Relations

Rodney McMullen - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Gary Millerchip - Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Dean Rosenblum - Bernstein

Michael Kessler - Morgan Stanley

Michael Montani - Evercore ISI

John Heinbockel - Guggenheim Partners

Krisztina Katai - Deutsche Bank

Ed Kelly - Wells Fargo

Chuck Cerankosky - Northcoast Research

Rupesh Parikh - Oppenheimer

Kenneth Goldman - JPMorgan

Michael Lasser - UBS

Kelly Bania - BMO

Operator

Good morning, and welcome to The Kroger Co. Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note, this event is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Robert Quast, Senior Director, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Robert Quast

Good morning. Thank you for joining us for Kroger's third quarter 2023 earnings call.

I am joined today by Kroger's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Rodney McMullen, and Chief Financial Officer, Gary Millerchip.

Before we begin, I want to remind you that today's discussions will include forward-looking statements. We want to caution you that such statements are predictions, and actual events or results can differ materially. A detailed discussion of the many factors that we believe may have a material effect on our business on an ongoing basis is contained in our SEC filings. The Kroger Company assumes no obligation to update that information.

After our prepared remarks, we look forward to taking your questions. In order to cover a broad range of topics from as many of you as we can, we ask that you please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up question if necessary.

I will now turn the call over to Rodney.

Rodney McMullen

Thank you, Rob. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today.

Before we begin, I'd like to take a moment to outline our discussion topics this morning. I will begin by covering the current retail environment and how the strength of Kroger's value creation model is supporting earnings growth and generating strong free cash flow. Then, Gary will cover our financial results and guidance for the remainder of the year. Finally, I will conclude with an update on our proposed merger with Albertsons, before we open it up for questions.

Now, turning to our third quarter. Kroger's third quarter results highlight the strength and diversity of our business model in a challenged operating environment. A strong fuel performance and growth in our alternative profit businesses supported continued adjusted net earnings per diluted share growth.