Safeway Inc. Board of Directors Approves 20% Increase in the Quarterly Dividend and Increases Stock Repurchase Authorization by $1 Billion

Business Wire, May 14, 2008

PLEASANTON, Calif. -- Safeway Inc. (NYSE:SWY) announced that its Board of Directors met yesterday and declared a regular quarterly cash dividend and approved a 20% increase from $0.069 per share to $0.0828 per share on a quarterly basis. The cash dividend of $0.0828 per share is payable on July 17, 2008 to stockholders of record at the close of business on June 26, 2008.

The Board also increased the authorized level of the company's stock repurchase program by $1 billion to a total authorized level of $5 billion. The company has repurchased approximately $3.55 billion of Safeway stock since the inception of the program through the end of the first quarter, resulting in a remaining authorization of approximately $1.45 billion.

Safeway Inc. is a Fortune 100 company and one of the largest food and drug retailers in North America based on sales. The company operates 1,740 stores in the United States and western Canada and had annual sales of $42.3 billion in 2007. The company's common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SWY.