US grocery retailer Harris Teeter has booked a mix set of figures in the third quarter, hit by its recent M&A activity.
In the three months to the end of June, net earnings amounted to US$15.8m, a decline on $32.1m reported a year earlier. The company cited a $3.5m charge linked to its sale of industrial thread manufacturing company American & Efird for the drop, and $10.4m in costs from the acquisition of stores from Lowe's.
Operating profit were $32.5m, compared to $48.2m a year earlier. Without the cost from the Lowe's deal, operating profit would have been $48.2m.
Sales reached $1.15bn, a 4.6% increase on the comparable period last year, driven an increase in comparable-store sales and sales from new stores.
"As we reported, the non-cash impairment charges and additional incremental expenses we incurred in this transaction reduced the company’s operating profit by $22.3 million and decreased the operating margin by 194 basis points in the third quarter of fiscal 2012. Without these additional costs, our operating profit margin for the quarter would have increased by 38 basis points compared to last year," chairman and CEO Thomas Dickson said.
"During the quarter we experienced increased unit sales on a comparable-store basis and have continued this positive trend into the fourth quarter. In addition, our store brand penetration on both a unit and sales dollar basis improved over the prior year."
