S&P Improves Whole Foods' Rating

S&P Improves Whole Foods' Rating

AUSTIN, Texas--Whole Foods Market (NASDA:WFMI)announced April 11 Standard & Poor's (SP) Ratings Services raised its ratingoutlook from stable to positive and affirmed its "BB+" corporatecredit rating.

S&P reported the revised outlook reflected strong same-storesales trends through the first quarter (1Q03), despite a weakened economy. Theservice also stated it would consider a higher rating should the companycontinue to grow its store base while improving credit protection measures andliquidity over the next few years.