Safeway Inc. Among "World's Most Ethical Companies"

PLEASANTON, Calif., March 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Safeway Inc., (NYSE: SWY) announced it has been named one of the 2012 World's Most Ethical Companies (WME) by the Ethisphere Institute.  Safeway earned a coveted place on the list by going beyond legal requirements and instituting practices that support a healthy workforce, benefit the public and respect the planet. This is the second time that Safeway has made the prestigious list.

"We are honored to be placed on Ethisphere Institute's list of the World's Most Ethical Companies," said Larree Renda, Safeway Executive Vice President and Chair of the Safeway Foundation. "Maintaining superior business practices is not only instrumental to the company's success, but also benefits our employees, the communities in which we operate and the people we serve each day."

The Ethisphere Institute is a think tank dedicated to the creation, advancement and sharing of best practices in business ethics, corporate social responsibility, anti-corruption and sustainability. Each year it selects companies from throughout the world for its prestigious WME list. This year's list of 145 companies will appear in Ethisphere Magazine's Q1 issue. 

In its announcement of this year's WME list, Ethisphere Institute said of Safeway and the honorees, "They are the companies who force other companies to follow their leadership or fall behind. These are the companies who use ethical leadership as a profit driver. And each of these companies embodies the true spirit of Ethisphere's credo, "Good. Smart. Business. Profit."

"Safeway represents clear ethical leadership within its industry and in the business world as a whole," said Alex Brigham, Executive Director of the Ethisphere Institute. "We applaud Safeway for maintaining a corporate culture that recognizes that making profits and doing the right thing can and should go hand in hand."

Through a rigorous, multi-step evaluation process, Ethisphere's researchers and analysts reviewed more than 1,000 companies in order to determine the finalists. The methodology includes reviewing each company's ethics and compliance program, as well as evaluating their reputation, leadership, innovation, governance practices, corporate social responsibility initiatives, and culture of ethics. The 2012 WME Methodology Advisory Committee is comprised of leading attorneys and government officials, professors and organization leaders who care about ethical and honest business practices.

Safeway is an industry leader in environmental sustainability, ethical business practices and effective community outreach. The company upholds an operating philosophy that is rooted in corporate social responsibility and focused on four key fundamentals: People, Products, Community, and the Planet. These fundamentals are "The Heart of Safeway," bringing together our passion for food and serving our customers with the rapidly developing needs of our communities and our planet.

To view the complete list of the 2012 World's Most Ethical Companies, please visit http://www.ethisphere.com/wme/

ABOUT SAFEWAY WWW.SAFEWAY.COM
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 1,678 stores in the United States and western Canada and had annual sales of $43.6 billion in 2011. The company's common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SWY.

ABOUT ETHISPHERE INSTITUTE
The research-based Ethisphere® Institute is a leading international think-tank dedicated to the creation, advancement and sharing of best practices in business ethics, corporate social responsibility, anti-corruption and sustainability. Ethisphere Magazine, which publishes the globally recognized World's Most Ethical Companies Ranking™, is the quarterly publication of the Institute. Ethisphere provides the only third-party verifications of compliance programs and ethical cultures that include: Ethics Inside® Certification, Compliance Leader Verification™ and Anti-Corruption Program Verification™. The Institute's premier membership group, the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance™, is a business ethics forum that includes more than 100 leading corporations, universities and institutions that collectively leverage their experience, expertise and innovative ways to address emerging compliance challenges.

Safeway Contact: Teena Massingill 925-467-3810, [email protected]

SOURCE Safeway Inc.