Inventory Turnover and days’ sales in inventory
Kroger, Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc., and Ingles Markets, Inc. are three grocery chains in the United States. Inventory management is an important aspect of the grocery retail business. Recent balance sheets for these three companies indicated the following merchandise inventory (in millions) information:
|
Kroger
|
Sprouts
|
Ingles
|
Cost of merchandise sold |
$94,894 |
$3,460 |
$3,113 |
Inventory, end of year |
8,123 |
264 |
372 |
Inventory, beginning of year |
7,781 |
230 |
349 |
a. & b.Determine the inventory turnover and the number of days’ sales in inventory (use 365 days) for the three companies.
Round all interim calculations to one decimal place. For days' sales in inventory, round final answers to one decimal place, and for inventory turnover, round to two decimal places.
Company names
|
Inventory Turnover
|
Days' Sales in Inventory
|
Kroger |
fill in the blank 1 |
fill in the blank 2 days |
Sprouts |
fill in the blank 3 |
fill in the blank 4 days |
Ingles |
fill in the blank 5 |
fill in the blank 6 days |
c.
The inventory turnover ratios and days’ sales in inventory are similar for Kroger and Sprouts. Ingles has a lower inventory turnover and a higher days’ sales in inventory than Kroger and Sprouts. These results suggest that Kroger and Sprouts are more efficient than Ingles in managing inventory.
d.If Ingles had Kroger’s days’ sales in inventory, how much additional cash flow would have been generated from the smaller inventory relative to its actual average inventory position?
Round interim calculations to one decimal place and your final answer to the nearest million.
$___ million