Roundy's Q1 Sales Up Nearly 5%
Net sales at Roundy's Inc. were up 4.8 percent to $983.5 million for the first quarter of fiscal year 2013, ending March 30, reflecting the benefit of new stores and a 1.3 percent increase in same-store sales.
“We are pleased with our ability to continue to realize improvements in both sales and volume through our focus on customer-centric initiatives, despite experiencing additional competitive openings and increased promotional activity in our core markets,” said Robert Mariano, Roundy's chairman, president and CEO. “In the first quarter, we further integrated new service, product and merchandising concepts into our group of 14 test stores in the Milwaukee area. Our early improvements in key operating and financial metrics across these stores give us increased confidence to begin a roll-out to additional Milwaukee area stores over the remainder of this year.”
Adjusted net income was $8.6 million, or 19 cents adjusted diluted net earnings per common share, compared to $10.6 million, or 28 cents the prior year quarter. Adjusted EBITDA was $44 million, compared to $48.7 million in the same quarter last year.
“The expansion of Mariano’s, our growth banner, continues on schedule," Mariano said, "as we recently opened our ninth and tenth stores with three more Mariano’s stores planned to open in the Chicago area in 2013 for a total 13 stores by year-end.”
Same-store sales comparisons were positively impacted by the 2013 Easter and 2013 New Year’s holiday shifts, partially offset by the negative effect of competitive store openings, the shift to greater generic pharmacy sales and the challenging economic environment, Roundy's reported. Additionally, same-store sales were positively impacted by a 5.2 percent increase in average transaction size, partially offset by a 3.7 percent decrease in the number of customer transactions, the company said, noting that, adjusted for the effect of the calendar shifts, same-store sales declined 0.8 percent.
Q1 gross profit increased 2.2 percent to $262.5 million; gross profit as a percentage of net sales was 26.7 percent for the first quarter of 2013, compared to 27.4 percent in the same period last year. The decrease in gross profit as a percentage of net sales primarily reflects greater price and promotional investments in certain markets and increased shrink, partially offset by an increased perishable sales mix, Roundy's reported.
Operating and administrative expenses increased to $235.8 million, from $226.1 million in the same period last year, primarily due to increased labor and occupancy costs related to new and replacement stores.
Milwaukee-based Roundy’s operates 160 retail grocery stores and 99 pharmacies under the Pick ’n Save, Rainbow, Copps, Metro Market and Mariano’s retail banners in