SAO PAULO, May 7 (Reuters) - Brazilian food retailer GPA

said on Tuesday its first-quarter net loss for

continuing operations widened by nearly 28% from a year-ago

period, weighed down by tax effects and an impairment related to

a real estate sale.

The company reported a net loss for continuing operations of

407 million reais ($80.2 million) in the quarter.

GPA said the losses deepened on expenses related to a

tax renegotiation program it had joined, an impairment from the

sale of its headquarters and lower tax gains.

Excluding those effects, GPA's net loss for the quarter

would have been 197 million reais.

On the operational front, its gross revenue grew 8.2% to

4.87 billion reais.

Core earnings, or adjusted earnings before interest, taxes,

depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) jumped 41% to 372 million

reais, with the EBITDA margin increasing from 6.3% to 8.1%

year-on-year.

GPA has been selling assets during the last quarter to cut

debt, while also restructuring its business, turning its focus

to higher-income clients.

It also raised $142 mln with a share offer in March.

Net debt including credit card receivables ended the quarter

at 1.6 billion reais, falling from 3 billion a year earlier,

while financial leverage dropped to 3 times from 9.8 times.

CFO Rafael Russowsky told Reuters better debt figures

also came in, apart from asset sales and better capital

structure, after a "very significant" operational improvement.

"These figures ... bring us closer and closer to really

ending this 'turnaround' phase in the company to live a new

moment, looking at growth", Russowsky said.

He did not give a target for financial leverage in the

year-end, but said for a business such as GPA, he sees something

close to 1 times to 1.5 times as "reasonable".

($1 = 5.0744 reais)