Rona 3-month TSX chart

Harsh winter weather and weak economic conditions pushed same-store sales and profits down at Rona Inc. in the first quarter, the building supply company said Tuesday.

The Boucherville, Que.-based company said it made $1 million, or one cent a share, down from $9 million, or eight cents a share, in the same quarter of 2007.

While year-over-year sales were up by 3.8 per cent, Rona said its same-store sales declined by 5.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2008, excluding price deflation for wood products and the effect of new statutory holidays.

The company said its sales for the first quarter of this year were $911.5 million, up 3.8 per cent from the previous year due to acquisitions, store openings and the recruitment of new affiliate dealer-owners.

While year-over-year sales were higher, Rona said its same-store sales declined by 5.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2008, excluding price deflation for building materials and the effect of new statutory holidays.

"The results for first quarter 2008 reflect the strong drop in consumer confidence in the country's economic growth," said Rona president and CEO Robert Dutton in a release.

"Results were also affected by weather conditions that were particularly unfavourable to construction and renovation activity in Ontario and Quebec, where we get nearly 70 per cent of our sales. Because of the significant seasonality of our activities, only 15 per cent of our annual sales and five per cent of our earnings are on average generated in the first quarter of the year," Dutton said.

He added that the company has "very little room to manoeuvre" at the beginning of the year to deal with the weak market conditions.

Shares of Rona slipped 3.7 per cent, or 50 cents, to close at $12.95 on the TSX.