Fairway Group Holdings (FWM), the parent of Fairway supermarkets, said it needs to raise more capital to stay in business over the long term, after losing money in each quarter since it went public in 2013.
In a Friday regulatory filing, Fairway said: “we need to raise additional capital to de-lever our balance sheet to allow us to continue as a going concern over the long term.”
Fairway cited its debt load, recent underperformance and “challenging market conditions” for its concern.
It said a failure to raise capital may prompt its auditor to issue a “going concern” warning, which would constitute an event of default under a senior credit facility where it had $266.8 million outstanding as of Dec. 27.
The New York-based company did not immediately respond on Monday to requests for comment.
Fairway operates 15 stores in the New York City area.
It had planned to open some 300 stores after going public at $13 per share in April 2013, but scaled back those plans amid mounting losses and competition from rivals such as Whole Foods Market (WFM), Trader Joe’s, and online grocer FreshDirect.
Fairway lost $9.7 million in the quarter ended on Dec. 27, as net sales fell 7% to $191.7 million.
In Monday trading, Fairway shares fell 4.5 cents, or 10%, to 40.5 cents on the Nasdaq.