CHICAGO (Reuters) - Rite Aid Corp posted its sixth straight quarterly loss on Thursday as sales fell and charges rose, and the drugstore chain said it expects to post a bigger loss this year as shoppers cut back in a recession.
The company lost $243.1 million, or 30 cents per share, in its fiscal third quarter, ended November 29. A year ago, it lost $84.8 million, or 12 cents a share.
Sales fell to $6.47 billion from $6.5 billion as the company closed some stores.
Rite Aid said adjusted EBITDA, or adjusted earnings before certain items, rose 8.5 percent to $252 million.
Sales at stores open at least a year, or same-store sales, rose 1.4 percent. The company, which acquired the Brooks and Eckerd drugstore chains in 2007, said it saw improvement at those stores.
Rite Aid now expects a fiscal 2009 net loss of $593 million to $773 million, or 74 cents to 95 cents per share, versus its earlier forecast of a loss of $445 million to $535 million, or 56 cents to 67 cents per share. Rite Aid's current fiscal year ends on February 28.
The company still expects fiscal 2009 sales of $26 billion to $26.5 billion, though same-store sales will be weaker than previously expected. It forecast same-store sales would rise 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent, down from a prior forecast for 1.5 percent to 3 percent.
Rite Aid said it still expects fiscal 2009 adjusted EBITDA of $950 million to $1.025 billion.
The company recently brought in three executives from grocer Pathmark Stores Inc as it works on competing against larger rivals CVS Caremark Corp
Rite Aid, which has opened new stores, remodeled older stores and closed stores that have not done well, had 4,914 stores at the end of the third quarter. Walgreen and CVS each have more than 6,600 stores.
Shares of Rite Aid fell to 49.5 cents per share in premarket trading after closing at 51 cents on Wednesday. Earlier this month shareholders approved a plan for a reverse stock split to boost the share price and keep the company's listing on the New York Stock Exchange. A year ago, Rite Aid traded at $4.13 per share.
(Reporting by Jessica Wohl; Editing by Steve Orlofsky and John Wallace)
