S&P affirms Kroger

Standard & Poor's said it affirmed Kroger Co.'s BBB corporate credit and unsecured ratings. This action comes as the company enters into a $2.0 billion revolving credit facility to replace its $2.5 billion facility that was to mature in November 2011.

The new facility will give Kroger liquidity for operations and to backstop its commercial paper program.

The outlook is stable.

"Our ratings on Kroger Co. reflect our expectation that the company will continue to grow profits as a result of higher sales in the near term, which will lead to modest credit metric enhancement," S&P analyst Charles Pinson-Rose said in a statement.

As of the quarter ended Aug. 14, operating lease-adjusted debt-to-EBITDA ratio was 3.2x.

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