Great Atlantic & Pacific Meets Lowered Expectations

Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea

(GAP)

, operator of the

A&P

grocery chain, reported earnings on Monday that met Wall Street's lowered expectations.

For the first quarter ended June 17, the company reported net income of $5.6 million, or 15 cents a diluted share, compared to a net loss of $19.5 million, or 51 cents a share, a year earlier. The consensus estimate of analysts polled by

First Call/Thomson Financial

was 15 cents.

Revenue rose to $3.20 billion from $3.11 billion a year ago.

Two weeks ago, Great Atlantic & Pacific, based in Montvale, N.J., said it would miss first-quarter earnings expectations because of higher interest expense, a general slowdown in consumer spending and lower-than-expected sales results in its recently acquired

Schwegmann's

and

The Barn

stores.

The company, which is 55% owned by the privately held German retailer

Tengelmann Group

, also operates more than 760 supermarkets under the

Dominion

,

Farmer Jack

,

Super Fresh

,

Kohl's

,

Food Emporium

,

Waldbaum's

and

Sav-A-Center

names.

Shares of A&P finished down 1/8, or 1%, at 16 5/6 after reaching a 52-week low of 16 1/16.