Winn-Dixie Shares Tumble on Loss Projection

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Stock in Winn-Dixie Stores here fell by more than 20% yesterday after executives acknowledged the retailer is likely to lose money in its current fiscal year. Expenses related to a store remodeling program, and non-cash items like depreciation and amortization, stock compensation expense and other charges, will exceed adjusted EBITDA in the 2008 fiscal year, which began June 28, according to Bennett Nussbaum, Winn-Dixie’s chief financial officer, speaking in a conference call discussing the retailer’s fourth-quarter and fiscal 2007 results. Winn-Dixie said cost reductions and a 2% increase in sales contributed to a profit of $20.6 million in the fourth quarter, up from a loss of $17.2 million a year ago. For the fiscal year, which included 20 weeks operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Winn-Dixie had sales of $7.2 billion and profits of $300.6 million. Identical-store sales for the quarter increased by 1.3% and by 1.6% for the fiscal year.

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