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Strategies & Market Trends : Anthony @ Equity Investigations, Dear Anthony, -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Anthony@Pacific who wrote (55469)	5/3/2000 7:29:00 PM
From: Sarkie	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 122087

No.

To: Anthony@Pacific who wrote (55469)	5/3/2000 8:27:00 PM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 122087

Peapod first-quarter loss widens but sales jump By Yukari Iwatani CHICAGO (Reuters) - Peapod Inc. , the struggling Internet grocer that Royal Ahold NV has agreed to rescue, said Wednesday its first-quarter loss more than doubled, though net sales surged thanks to a 52 percent increase in orders. The Skokie, Ill.-based company, which has been running up big operating losses since its initial public offering in 1997, said its first-quarter net loss reached $12.7 million, or 70 cents a diluted share, up from a loss of $5 million, or 29 cents, a year earlier. In the latest quarter, Peapod incurred extraordinary expenses of $4.1 million related to severance arrangements, investment transaction costs and other one-time events. Stripping out those items, the first-quarter loss came in at $8.6 million, or 47 cents a diluted share. Analysts had expected a loss of 46 cents a share on that basis, according to First Call/Thomson Financial, which tracks such estimates. Net sales for the quarter jumped 38 percent to $24.9 million from $18 million last year. Barry Stouffer, analyst with J.C. Bradford & Co., said Peapod told analysts in a conference call after earnings were released that it hopes to become profitable at the individual fulfillment center level in six quarters. The company also told analysts it would pull out of Texas and may withdraw from the San Francisco market, Stouffer said. ``They did a good job of managing costs and they obviously had strong sales,'' Stouffer said, adding that the numbers have less meaning going forward because the operational model will change with Dutch grocer Ahold's new involvement in the business. Last month, Ahold agreed to buy 51 percent of Peapod for $73 million after four investment firms canceled a $120 million investment. The cancellation of the investment, which followed the resignation of Peapod's chief executive, had left the company's future uncertain and was followed by a 50 percent drop in Peapod's share price. Peapod said at the time that it might have to put itself up for sale and there were no assurances it could continue its operations. But chairman Andrew Parkinson said in a news release Wednesday, ``Peapod performed better than ever during the first quarter while we were focused on securing long term financing for the company. We delivered record revenues on a monthly, weekly and daily basis.'' Ahold has also committed to a $20 million revolving credit facility and has warrants immediately exercisable for additional Peapod shares, which would increase its voting stock to 75 percent and bring its total investment to $208 million. Peapod shareholders will vote on the deal this summer. Ahold said Peapod would begin taking advantage of unused storage space in its U.S. facilities to set up so-called fast-pick fulfillment centers that would be smaller operations compared with the central distribution centers that the company originally envisioned. Peapod announced Tuesday that it named grocery executive Marc van Gelder as its chief executive effective immediately. Van Gelder, 38, joined Peapod from New England-based supermarket chain Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. Inc., a unit of Ahold, where he was senior vice president of supply chain management and logistics. In an interview with Reuters on Tuesday, van Gelder said he expected to have a strategic plan in 90 days and a plan for profitability by year-end. The stock on Wednesday slipped 1/4 to close at 3-1/4 on the Nasdaq. The first-quarter results were announced after the close of regular U.S. trading. 19:01 05-03-00