Moody’s upgrades Albertsons

Moody’s Investors Service said it upgraded Albertsons Cos., Inc.’s corporate family and probability of default ratings to Ba3 and Ba3-PD from B1 and B1-PD, respectively. Also, Moody’s upgraded the rating of Albertsons Cos., Inc.’s and Safeway Inc.’s senior unsecured notes to B1 from B2. The company’s speculative grade liquidity rating is unchanged at SGL-1.

“Albertsons has benefitted from the increased demand for food at home and pantry loading during the coronavirus pandemic with record sales and EBITDA for the first half of 2020,” said Mickey Chadha, a Moody’s vice president stated, in a press release.

“The company has also reduced debt through free cash flow, thereby improving credit metrics meaningfully, and we expect metrics to remain strong even after buying patterns normalize,” Chadha added.

Moody’s changed the outlook to stable from positive. The stable outlook reflects the expectation the company’s operating performance will not deteriorate, and it will continue to lower its debt burden, the agency said.

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