Shares of Supervalu Inc. — America’s third-largest grocery chain that operates 10 Save-A-Lot stores in the area — lost nearly half their value Thursday after the company announced it would suspend its dividend and will “review strategic alternatives” for the business following disappointing financial results.

The Minnesota-based company’s shares fell 49 percent to $2.69, its lowest stock price in decades.

Supervalu announced in May it would close a distribution center in Xenia after 51 years of operation, eliminating 120 jobs. The company said the plant closure and consolidation of work to a distribution plant in Indiana would be completed this fall.

Supervalu’s Save-A-Lot stores are located in Dayton, Fairborn, Springfield, Middletown, Franklin and Lebanon. The company operates 69 Cub Foods stores in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois, but the three Cub Foods stores in the Dayton area are not part of Supervalu.

The company, which employs about 130,000 nationwide, announced layoffs last month of 2,200 to 2,500 employees in its Albertsons grocery-store unit in California and Nevada.

Supervalu plans to accelerate price reductions and cut costs by an additional $250 million over the next two years, the company said.

Supervalu hasn’t turned an annual net profit in three years amid competition from Wal-Mart Stores and Kroger Co., according to BusinessWeek.com. The company on Wednesday announced results for the first quarter of fiscal 2013 that ended June 16, reporting net sales of $10.6 billion and net earnings of $41 million, below analysts’ estimates.

“While our shift to a fair price plus promotion strategy is right for our business, it is essential that we move even more aggressively to lower prices, and anticipate and respond to competitor actions. We expect our business transformation to meet our customers’ demands for great quality at lower prices,” said Craig Herkert, Supervalu’s chief executive officer and president.