Metro Inc. ends fiscal year with Q4 profit rising 15.4 per cent on higher sales

MONTREAL — Metro Inc. ended its fiscal year with net earnings rising 15.4 per cent to $167.4 million in the fourth quarter on higher revenues.

The Montreal-based grocery and pharmacy chain says it earned 66 cents per diluted share for the period ended Sept. 28, up from 56 cents per share or $145 million a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items, Metro earned $174 million or 68 cents per share in adjusted profits, compared with $161 million or 63 cents per share a year ago.

Revenues increased 3.3 per cent to $3.86 billion, from $3.74 billion as food same-store sales climbed 4.1 per cent and pharmacy same-store sale were up 3.4 per cent.

Metro was expected to report 69 cents per share in adjusted profits on $3.85 billion of revenues, according to financial markets data firm Refinitiv.

For the full year, net earnings fell by more than half to $714.4 million from $1.72 billion following the sale of operations. Adjusted profits grew 26.3 per cent to $731.6 million or $2.84 per share. That compared with $579.2 million or $2.41 per share in the 2018 fiscal year.

Revenues were $16.77 billion, up 16.6 per cent from $14.38 billion or up 3.2 per cent when excluding the Jean Coutu Group.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 20, 2019.

Companies in this story: (TSX:MRU)

The Canadian Press