US natural and organic foods retailer Wild Oats Markets has reported a preliminary net loss for the fourth quarter, but said it expects to produce profitable growth in 2005.

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The company reported a net loss of US$3.78m, or 13 cents per share, for the fourth quarter to 1 January, compared to net income of $0.83m, or 3 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Sales rose to $281.9m from $253.9m a year earlier.


For the full year Wild Oats reported a net loss of $7.13m, or 25 cents per share, compared to net income of $3.59m, or 12 cents per share, for the previous year. Full-year sales rose to $1.05bn from $969.2m a year earlier.


Comparable store sales increased 1.4% in 2004 despite challenging comparisons in Southern California stores due to double-digit same-store sales in the fourth quarter of 2003. The company opened 12 new stores in 2004.


“The best way to characterise 2004 is we overcame several challenges at the same time that we instituted a significant amount of change, which put pressure on our business and reduced our short-term potential for profitability,” said Perry Odak, president and CEO.

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“With distributor changes and the start-up of our perishables distribution centre – which adversely affected margins and profits throughout the year; the Southern California competitive activity; and a major reorganisation and centralisation behind us, we expect we can focus on optimising our existing stores while, at the same time, meeting our new store objectives to produce profitable growth in 2005,” Odak added.