Fairway Group Holdings announced financial results for its fiscal 2015 fourth quarter ended March 29, 2015. Net sales were $199.1 million compared to $200.3 million for Q4 2014 and same store sales decreased 3.6%.
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Customer transactions in company's comparable stores decreased by 6.7%, although the average transaction size increased by 3.4%. Same store sales were negatively impacted by approximately 90 basis points due to a recent competitive opening near our Upper Eastside location.
Adjusted EBITDA was $12.3 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015 compared to $12.7 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014. The adjusted EBITDA margin was 6.2% for the fourth quarter compared to 6.4% during the same period of the prior year.
Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter was negatively impacted by higher occupancy costs, an increase in central services and lower contribution from the Upper Eastside location due to a recent competitive opening.
Gross profit for the fourth quarter was $64.1 million compared to $64.9 million in the same period of the prior year. The gross margin declined approximately 20 basis points to 32.2% from 32.4% in the prior year. The gross margin was adversely affected by an increase in occupancy costs as a percentage of sales, partially offset by an increase in merchandise margin.
Despite having more stores in operation, store expenses, excluding depreciation and amortization, decreased $0.6 million to $40.9 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015 from $41.5 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014.
Store expenses were 20.6% of sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015 compared to 20.7% for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014. The decrease in store expenses was primarily due to improved labor efficiency and enhanced cost discipline at existing stores.
General and administrative expenses were $17.1 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015, a decrease of $1.4 million from $18.5 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014. The decrease in general and administrative expenses was primarily attributable to lower severance and equity compensation expense compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014.
These cost reductions were partially offset by a $0.6 million increase in professional services for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015. The portion of depreciation and amortization included in general and administrative expenses was $0.9 million, a decrease of $0.2 million from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014.
The Central Services component of general and administrative expenses increased $0.2 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015 compared to the same period in the prior year. ■