Uni-Marts Reports Loss

STATE COLLEGE, Penn. -- Although total revenues rose 11 percent to $109.9 million during the first quarter of 2003, Uni-Marts Inc. yesterday reported a net loss for the quarter of $422 thousand compared to earnings of $110 thousand in the same period a year ago.

The revenue growth is primarily credited to an inflationary spike in the average price of gasoline, which increased 25 percent to 23.5 cents per gallon in the first fiscal quarter of 2003. Same-store merchandise sales increased by 1.3 percent, while gasoline gallons sold were relatively flat from fiscal 2002 first quarter levels.

"The performance of our petroleum locations was in line with our expectations in the first quarter of fiscal 2003 as current petroleum market conditions continue to adversely affect
\consumer usage and increased competition among retailers in our market area," said Henry Sahakian, Uni-Mart's chairman and CEO.

Loses for the Pennsylvania marketer were compounded by a sharp drop in gasoline margins and slight decline in gallons sold, Sahakian said. Merchandise sales at the company's 298 convenience stores in Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia jumped as a result of the higher retail price of cigarette, however, merchandise margin dollars declined as a result of a 0.8-percent decrease in the merchandise gross profit rate."

Divestiture Update
Uni-Marts in the third quarter of last year retained Trefethen & Company LLC to assist with its ongoing divestiture of certain underperforming stores non-operating assets.

"We are pleased with the initial progress we have made to date with a number of interested parties implementing our divestiture strategy," Sahakian said. "The board of directors is pleased to have entered into an ongoing advisory relationship with Trefethen & Company to assist the company with this current strategy, as well as all other strategic alternatives that may arise to improve operations and enhance stockholder value."