Kroger, Safeway Inc., and Winn-Dixie Stores 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

information:

Merchandise Inventory

End of Year (in millions) Beginning of Year (in millions)

Kroger $4,966 $4,935

Safeway 2,623 2,509

Winn-Dixie 658 665

The cost of goods sold for each company was:

Cost of Goods Sold (in millions)

Kroger $63,927

Safeway 29,443

Winn-Dixie 5,182

a. Determine the number of days sales in inventory and the inventory turnover for the

three companies. Round to the nearest day and one decimal place.

b. Interpret your results in part (a).

c. If Winn-Dixie had Krogers number of days sales in inventory, how much additional

cash flow (rounded to nearest million) would have been generated from the smaller

inventory relative to its actual average inventory position?