Kroger Co. earned $303.4 million, or 36 cents a share, during the first quarter ended May 26, the company said Tuesday.

        Sales at the grocery-store giant increased 5.4 percent to $15.1 billion, while sales in comparable food stores increased 2.5 percent.

        Those results included one-time charges, such as those related to the 1999 acquisition of Fred Meyer Inc.

        The operating earnings of 38 cents a share met analysts' estimates and were 19 percent more than the same period a year ago, Kroger said.

        Joseph Pichler, Kroger's chairman and chief executive officer, said the results came from more synergies from the Fred Meyer merger, cost-cutting and growth in Kroger's private-label brands.
       

GE gets $1.5B service contract

        GE Engine Services has landed a $1.5 billion contract to maintain and repair CF6-6 engines on Federal Express Corp.'s fleet of Boeing DC-10 and MD-10 freighters.

        The agreement, which extends an existing maintenance agreement for 10 years, includes installation of a GE turbine upgrade to upgrade engine durability and lower costs.
       

P&G, Microsoft in supply deal

        Procter & Gamble Co. and Microsoft Corp. have started developing a system to keep products on store shelves more efficiently, the companies said Tuesday.

        The “supply chain solution” can help reduce inventories by 50 percent while improving out-of-stock conditions by 25 percent.

        The system captures real-time data at the point of sales and automatically triggers restocking.
       

AK Steel adds tube products

        Middletown's AK Steel is expanding into the welded tube market with the acquisition of Alpha Tube, a Walbridge, Ohio, unit of Acme Metals Inc.

        AK Steel agreed to pay $30 million in cash plus assume a building lease as the successful bidder for Alpha Tube during a bankruptcy court-supervised auction in Wilmington, Del.

        Alpha Tube, located outside Toledo, makes tubing for the automotive, construction, heating and cooling and furniture markets.

        Acme Metals Inc. of Riverdale, Ill., sought bankruptcy reorganization in 1998.

        Alpha Tube, which employs 250, has annual sales of about $85 million.

        AK Steel said it expects to complete the purchase by October.
       

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