Roundy's first quarter affected by sluggish economy and bad weather

Roundy's saw net sales increase by 1.9% to $1 billion, and reported a net loss of $4.5 million compared with net income of $8.6 million.



“The first quarter was very active for our growth banner, Mariano’s, with the opening of five new stores. We continue to be pleased with Mariano’s very strong customer and community acceptance, as well as the banner’s performance to date,” said Robert A. Mariano, chairman, president and CEO of Roundy’s. “Four of these openings were former Dominick’s stores, and we opened an organic location in Lake Zurich, Ill. In April, we opened two more stores, and one yesterday in the city of Chicago, bringing the number of Mariano’s stores to 21. We are on schedule with the remaining eight acquired and organic openings this year.”



Adjusted net income for the company was $0.5 million compared with $8.6 million, and adjusted EBITDA was $34 million compared with $44 million. Mariano cited a number of issues that led to the company's lackluster first-quarter performance.



“During the first quarter of 2014, we continued to see softness in our core markets. Competitive pressure, weak economic growth and weather-related issues affected our core markets in the quarter," Mariano said. "Despite difficult same-store sales comparisons in the first quarter, we remain steadfast with our Milwaukee market renewal initiatives as we continue to implement strategic changes in select core markets.”