MINNEAPOLIS — Supervalu Inc. ended its 2012 fiscal year on a high note, with adjusted earnings that exceeded analysts’ expectations.

Supervalu Inc. ended its 2012 fiscal year on a high note, with adjusted earnings that exceeded analysts’ expectations.

More importantly, the grocery retailer and wholesaler’s profit forecast for fiscal 2013 was also above Wall Street’s, sending the company’s share price up 13% on the day the results were released.

For the fourth quarter, Supervalu recorded a net loss of $424 million, which includes charges for impairment of goodwill and intangible assets and previously announced layoffs totaling $505 million, after taxes.

Excluding those items, adjusted net profit was $81 million, or 38 cents per share, ahead of the 35 cents per share expected by analysts.

Net sales for the quarter decreased 5% to $8.23 billion, short of Wall Street’s estimate of $8.31 billion.

For fiscal 2013, Supervalu predicts earnings between $1.27 and $1.42 per share, well ahead of the $1.19 consensus estimate of analysts. Management also forecasts a decrease in identical-store sales of 1% to 2%. According to chief financial officer Sherry Smith, the continued decline reflects ongoing price investments.

"It involves removing price as a barrier to customers shopping in our stores," said chief executive officer Craig Herkert. "Our long-term strategy is to bring pricing in line with our primary conventional competitors and narrow the gap to discounters.

"Each price investment we make to achieve our sustained competitive strategy will impact ID sales in the near term."