Supermarket chain Seiyu Ltd. posted a net loss of ¥25.79 billion for the year ended last December, remaining in the red for the seventh straight year, according to earnings results posted in a government gazette Monday.

As part of its restructuring steps announced in September, the company will shut down 12 more stores as of Tuesday to stem ballooning losses due to sluggish spending amid the recession, company officials said.

Sales at stores, including some of its subsidiaries, amounted to ¥800.98 billion.

A year-on-year comparison is difficult because not all of Seiyu's subsidiaries are included in the figures released in the government gazette.

The firm also reported an operating profit of ¥156 million and logged a pretax loss of ¥4.76 billion on interest and other expenses.

Seiyu in 2002 became a wholly owned subsidiary of U.S. retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and was delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange's first section last April.

In addition to nine stores that have already been shut down, the latest step to close another 12, including one in Iwamizawa, Hokkaido, will nearly complete its plan to eliminate around 20 stores, or about 5 percent of its outlet network, by mid-2009.

Seiyu has been trying to get back on track since entering its capital tieup with Wal-Mart.

Sales have shown signs of improvement since late last year after Seiyu launched aggressive price-cutting campaigns, increasingly popular among price-conscious consumers, a Seiyu official said.