Publix Super Markets now owns nearly a third of its grocery stores and plans to invest more than $1 billion this year in its property portfolio.
The Lakeland-based grocer owned 31.8 percent of its stores last year, up from 29.1 percent in 2016, according to the company’s 2017 annual report.
Publix has increased the percentage of company-owned stores it operates for 11 consecutive years, starting in 2007, when the company owned 11.2 percent of its stores and leased the rest.
Publix also disclosed in its 2017 annual report that it plans to invest $1.53 billion this year to remodel existing stores, build new ones, acquire shopping centers where its stores are anchor tenants, and improve store technology.
The company also disclosed in its 2017 annual report that its sales last year totaled $34.6 billion, its profit margin was 6.6 percent, and it raised the pay of its 193,000 employees by an unspecified amount.
Publix also reported that the corporate tax cut signed into law by President Trump in December reduced the company’s 2017 taxes by $224 million. [Palm Beach Post] – Mike Seemuth