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A P Bankruptcy

December 13, 2010 by · Comments Off on A P Bankruptcy 

A P Bankruptcy, American grocery store operator Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea (GAP) announced yesterday that it filed for bankruptcy after the firm was unable to turn around its business facing increased competition from other food retailers. In a statement the company, which is known for its supermarkets & PA, said he will continue to conduct its business and serve customers at its 395 stores. In addition, the press release says the company will have access to food and 800 million debtors in possession (DIP) financing from JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM), which will allow it to continue to pay suppliers local suppliers, employees and others in the ordinary course of business.

Overall, the grocery Inventories Index dipped 2% in the past month and has underperformed the S & P over 5% during the same period.

Despite the recent underperformance of the sector, the segment has generated some interest among institutional investors. Heading into the fourth quarter, a total of 16 asset managers filing 13F-counted Kroger (KR) from their equity positions-15 to U.S. listed, but shares of the grocery giant has dropped from -10 % over the past month. Meanwhile, another parent favorite Pro as Supervalu (SVU) and Safeway (SWY) went down -16% and -7% respectively for the monthly period.

Not all games have been laggards Grocery however, as Fresh Market (TFM), Susser Holdings (SUSS) and Whole Foods Market (WFMI) enriched to 13%, 8% and 6% for the month ended Friday. Other monthly winners include regional supermarket plays Casey’s General Stores (CASY) and Ingles Markets (IMKTA).

It will be interesting to see how investors react in the space of a bankruptcy filing & P and the way the industry does move forward. Investors can monitor the store stocks index performance trends and a series of other parameters tickerspy.com.

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