May 6, 2008 - 06:38 a.m.

MONTVALE, N.J. (AP) - Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. said Tuesday its fiscal fourth-quarter loss widened on costs related to its acquisition of Pathmark Stores Inc.

The parent company of A&P and other supermarket chains reported a loss of $61.5 million, or $1.73 per share, compared with a loss of $7.2 million, or 17 cents per share, a year earlier. Losses from continuing operations quadrupled to $44.6 million, or $1.40 per share, compared with a loss of $11 million, or 26 cents per share.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial predicted a loss of 65 cents per parcel out. Estimates typically exclude one-time items.

Quarterly sales for the period ended Feb. 23 soared 73 percent to $2.2 billion from $1.27 billion, beating Wall Street's estimate of $2.19 billion.

Same-store sales rose 3 percent, excluding sales related to Pathmark, which was acquired at the beginning of the share for $665 million. Pathmark same-store sales edged up 1.5 percent.

Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, is a key indicator of retailer performance since it measures growth at existing stores rather than newly opened ones.

For the year, the company reported a loss of $160.7 million, or $4.22 per share, compared with a profit of $26.9 million, or 64 cents per share, a year ago. Income from continuing operations climbed to $87 million, or $1.37 per share, from $12.8 million, or 30 cents per share.

Annual revenue increased to $6.4 billion, up 19 percent from $5.37 billion in the previous year.

Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea's other brands include Best Cellars, Waldbaum's and The Food Emporium.