Q1 2006 Ingles Markets, Incorporated Earnings Conference Call - Final.

(From Fair Disclosure Wire)

OPERATOR: Good day and welcome to the Ingles Markets, Incorporated conference call. Today's call is being recorded. At this time for opening remarks and introductions I would like to turn the conference over Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Ron Freeman. Please go ahead, sir. RON FREEMAN, CFO, INGLES MARKETS, INC.: Thank you. Good morning. Welcome to the Ingles Markets 2006 first-quarter conference call. With me today are Robert Ingle, Founder of our Company and Chief Executive Officer, Robert Ingle II, Chairman of the Board; Jim Lanning, President; and Tom Outlaw, Vice President of Sales.

Statements made on this call include forward-looking statements as defined by and subject to the safe harbors created by Federal Securities Laws. The words expect, anticipate, intend, plan, believe and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions which are difficult to predict. Therefore actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed on this call. We do not undertake to update publicly any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. For a description of the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from that anticipated by forward-looking statements you will refer to the Company's public filings including the form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 25, 2004, and the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended December 24, 2005.

Now I'll give you a brief overview of our first quarter ended December 24, 2005. Then we will be happy to take your questions. Our 10-Q that was filed on February 2 and our press release issued this morning are available on our website at www.ingles-markets.com.

We are very pleased with our start to fiscal 2006. Total sales, comparable store sales and net income were all well above last year's fiscal first quarter. Total sales growth was 11.5% and comparable store sales growth was 9.8% for the December 2005 quarter. During the quarter just ended, Ingles had two different weeks with Company record grocery sales. Sales grew in all major departments led by grocery and gasoline departments. The…