SCARBOROUGH, Maine -- Hannaford Bros. here said last week merger costs and losses from its Internet division caused fourth-quarter earnings to come in slightly lower than expected.
week fourth quarter increased 4.4% to $887.6 million. Comparable-store sales gained 2% for the quarter and 1.7% for the year.
Net earnings were up 3.6% to $98 million for the year, while fourth-quarter earnings, including merger costs of $2.3 million pre-tax and $2 million post-tax, rose 1.1% to $28.3 million. Not including the merger costs, earnings gained 8.2% for the quarter and 10.4% for the year, the company said.
Hugh G. Farrington, Hannaford president and chief executive officer, said, "Results for 1999 were very good, especially so in our core business operations. Losses from HomeRuns.com, our grocery home-delivery operation in Boston, were greater than we anticipated since we expected to announce a deal to sell that subsidiary much sooner than Jan. 13."
As previously reported, Hannaford sold a majority interest in HomeRuns.com earlier this month for $100 million to the Cypress Group, a New York private equity firm.
