Village Super Market on Tuesday said sales were up slightly for the fourth quarter and fiscal year, but earnings for both periods were down due to an unfavorable tax ruling and on costs associated with replacement stores.
Village, which operates 29 ShopRite stores in three states, said sales for the quarter ended July 26 increased by 5.5% to $397 million, while same-store sales increased by 0.9%. Replacement stores in Morristown and Union, N.J., sparked the sales increase, the company said. Earnings totaled $5.9 million, a decrease of 5.4% from the same period a year ago. Excluding those items, earnings improved by 12% for the quarter.
Earnings were impacted by future lease obligations related to the closing of the Union store and pre-opening expenses related to its replacement, as well as an income tax increase resulting from an unfavorable ruling from the New Jersey Tax Court.
For the fiscal year, earnings declined by 80.5% to $5 million, impacted by $11.6 million in increased taxes as well as various lease and preopening expenses. Excluding extraordinary items in fiscal 2014 and 2013, earnings were down by 17%, primarily due to flat same-store sales, higher operating expenses as a percentage of sales, and higher depreciation expense.
Sales for the fiscal year totaled $1.5 billion, an increase of 2.9%, with same-store sales increasing by 0.2%.
Village said it expected same-store sales in fiscal 2015 to range between flat and 2%.
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