Kroger has affirmed its earnings guidance for
the year and expects a key sales measure to rise.

The nation's largest traditional grocery chain says that
identical supermarket sales, a key retail indicator, were trending
above 5 percent, not including fuel sales, for the current quarter.

Kroger, hosting an analysts' conference, confirmed its earlier
fiscal 2008 earning guidance of $1.85 to $1.90 per share, excluding
the effects of Hurricane Ike in September. Analysts surveyed by
Thomson Reuters are expecting $1.92.

For the year, Kroger expects identical supermarket sales growth
of 4.5 to 5.5 percent.