Metro Quarterly Net Earnings More Than Triple
Montreal, Quebec
By Eric Anderson
4.25.13
Metro, Canada's No. 3 grocer, more than tripled quarterly net earnings after selling its foodservice operation and Discargo division, a convenience store operator, but it warned of a challenging competitive environment.
Canadian supermarket chains are facing increased competition in the market due to Target’s Canadian debut, which opened three new Canadian stores last month and plans to have more than 100 by the end of the year.
"The competitive environment will remain challenging in the coming quarters," Chief Executive Eric La Fleche said in a statement.
Metro's net earnings rose by 281.7% from $96.1 million to$357.5 million.
The earnings were helped by an after-tax, one-time gain of C$266.4 million related to the sale of nearly half of its stake in Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.
EBITDA grew by 7.2% from C$174.6 million to C$180 million.
Sales fell 3 percent to C$2.51 billion. The fall was primarily due to the inclusion of the week preceding Christmas in the first quarter, compared with the second quarter a year earlier.
Sales at established store were flat for the quarter.
Metro operates more than 600 food stores and more than 250 drugstores in Canada. The company has said it plans to repurchase for cancellation up to 1 million of its common shares.
Metro
