SuperValu considers spinning off Save-A-Lot business

(Adds details, financial results)

July 28 (Reuters) - SuperValu Inc said it was exploring a spinoff of its discount grocery chain Save-A-Lot as a publicly traded company.

Save-A-Lot, a no-frills store chain, operates more than 1,300 stores across the United States, SuperValu said on Tuesday.

The business has been focusing on fresh produce and meat and improving its offerings to appeal to a wider customer base, SuperValu said.

Save-A-Lot accounted for about 26 percent of SuperValu's total revenue in the first quarter. The company did not specify a date for the Save-A-Lot separation.

SuperValu also reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue and profit, helped by higher sales at its Save-A-Lot stores and in its wholesale business.

Net income attributable to the company rose to $61 million, or 23 cents per share, in the quarter ended June 20 from $43 million, or 17 cents per share, a year earlier.

Net sales rose 2.7 percent to $5.41 billion.

Analysts on average had expected a profit of 20 cents per share and sales of $5.39 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Barclays and Greenhill are SuperValu's financial advisers and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz is its legal adviser.

(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Kirti Pandey)