Dollar General Corp. declined as much as 5.2 percent in early trading after the discount-retail chain said Chief Executive Officer Richard Dreiling and other executives plan to sell a total of 25 million shares. Dollar General fell (DG) 4.8 percent to $46.15 at 8:25 a.m. in New York, after earlier touching $45.98. The stock had risen 18 percent this year before today. Dreiling, who is also the Goodlettsville, Tennessee-based company’s chairman, is selling 53,167 shares and will own 1.53 million after the sale, according to a regulatory filing yesterday. The group of executives, which includes Chief Financial Officer David Tehle, will own a combined 37 percent of the company’s common shares after the offering, down from 44 percent prior to the sale. That stake will drop to 36 percent if they exercise an option to sell additional stock. The company raised its annual forecast yesterday and said it expects annual profit excluding certain items of as much as $2.78 a share, up from a prior projection of as much as $2.75. That compared to an average analyst estimate of $2.77, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In the first quarter, the chain had “excellent same-store sales growth of 6.7 percent, representing the fifth consecutive quarter of accelerating improvement,� Dreiling said in a statement. To contact the reporter on this story: Niamh Ring at nring@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Robin Ajello at rajello@bloomberg.net

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