GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Spartan Stores here said overall sales rose while a series of nonrecurring items resulted in lower earnings for the first quarter ended June 17.
t expects to become a publicly traded company the day after the closing under the ticker symbol SPTN.
Overall sales at Spartan for the 12-week first quarter rose 6% to $725.6 million, while net income fell 24.5% to $3.7 million.
The company said the earnings decline was the result of nonrecurring items in last year's first quarter, including a one-time gain of $2.6 million related to the sale of suppliers' stock, which was partially offset by a $396,000 restructuring charge. Excluding those items, the company said net income would have been up 7.6%.
Spartan said sales in its retail grocery segment rose 59.1% to $148 million, reflecting additional sales from the acquisition of 23 Glen's Markets and three Great Day Foods stores. Comparable-store sales rose 4.4%, which the company said was due to promotional programs and its ongoing emphasis on product-line expansion.
Sales in Spartan's grocery distribution segment dropped 2.5% to $360 million and convenience-store distribution sales fell 1.8% to $211.5 million, due principally to the elimination of intercompany sales to Glen's and Great Day, the company pointed out. (Intersegment sales accounted for the balance of $6.1 million.)
The addition of Seaway Food Town will increase Spartan's retail store base from 46 Michigan-based stores to 119 units in Michigan and Ohio.
