In the quarter ending Jan. 29, the supermarket operator reported a net loss of $14.6 million, or 28 cents per share, $287 million less than the quarterly loss incurred during the prior year.
"Despite soft results we are making progress," John Standley, the company's chief executive officer said in a conference call announcing the quarterly results. Standley said during the year, the firm made "important investments to improve the long-term health of our business," including the creation of store and merchandising initiatives and an employee buyout program.
"While our financial results for the fourth quarter and full year were disappointing, we believe that the steps we have taken will lead to a stronger Pathmark in fiscal 2006," Standley said.
The locally based supermarket chain, which operates 141 stores in the New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia areas, also saw its sales drop 0.4% during the quarter declining from $996.8 million in the prior year's fourth quarter to $993.3 million.
Same-store sales were also down 0.8% for the period, company execs said. For the year, sales were flat at $3.97 billion and same-store sales decreased 0.8%. The regional chain said it spent $64.5 million on capital investments in fiscal 2005 and expects to spend about $70 million more on those items during the current fiscal year.
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