The Rite Aid Corporation, the drugstore chain, said Thursday it had hired new operating and finance chiefs after reporting its fifth consecutive unprofitable quarter and projecting a wider loss for the year. The loss expanded to $222 million, or 27 cents a share, from $69.6 million, or 10 cents a share, a year earlier, because of declining sales and higher financing costs, the company said. Revenue in the period, which ended Aug. 30 and was the second quarter of Rite Aid's fiscal year, was flat at $6.5 billion. Mary F. Sammons, Rite Aid's chief executive, said it was taking longer than planned to improve results at 1,800 Brooks and Eckerd stores that Rite Aid bought in June 2007.