Moody’s lifts Ingles Markets

Moody's Investors Service said it upgraded Ingles Markets, Inc.'s corporate family rating and probability of default rating to Ba2 and Ba2-PD, respectively.

The agency also upgraded the rating of the company's senior unsecured notes to Ba3 from B1 and upgraded its speculative grade liquidity rating to SGL-2 from SGL-3.

The outlook is stable.

The actions conclude a review for upgrade initiated on May 16.

"The upgrade reflects Ingles' ability to compete successfully with alternative food retailers and traditional grocers in its markets despite a challenging business environment as evidenced by its same store sales growth and fairly stable gross margins," Moody's vice president Mickey Chadha said in a news release.

"Ingles' large base of stores that are owned rather than leased represent a credit positive, as it reduces Ingles' fixed cost burden relative to companies with leased real estate and provides a source of value to creditors."

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