Worker absenteeism -- not trucker vaccine mandates -- impacting store shelves: Metro
Vaccine mandates for truckers have raised transportation costs -- but haven't impacted the shipment of goods to stores, the head of one of Canada's largest grocery chains says.
Instead, Metro president and CEO Eric La Fleche said Tuesday the biggest impact on Canada's food industry supply chain has been worker absenteeism due to COVID-19 protocols.
The labour shortage caused by quarantined workers has impacted the entire supply chain -- including retail stores, distribution centres and suppliers as well as transportation -- driving sporadic outages of certain products, he said.
"The domino effect clearly has had an impact over the last month on supply chain," La Fleche said.
Yet while there might be less depth and variety to Metro's product assortment than usual, La Fleche said "there's still food on store shelves."
"There's certainly less variety than there should be and we're not as full as we'd like to be," he said. "But we're not missing food out there."
Meanwhile, the worst of the product delays and shortages might have passed, La Fleche said.
"More and more people that were infected are back at work, both at our suppliers and in our own operations," he said. "It's improving every day. Every week, we're getting better."
Still, inflation is expected to persist, especially in transportation.
"Costs are up," La Fleche said. "It's higher inflation than normal in our business. We're getting cost increases from our suppliers and we are managing our prices at retail as best we can."
He said shipping costs have faced "significant inflation" over the past year, with an added jump earlier this month when Canada and the U.S. ushered in vaccine mandates at the border that have caused trucker shortages.
"We felt an immediate increase in the transportation costs for that," La Fleche said. "But I can't say that we have huge shipping issues affecting delivery of goods to our stores."
He added: "Overall, I think on the trucking side we are well serviced."
Diane Brisebois, Retail Council of Canada president and CEO, said the supply chain is being impacted by multiple factors from labour shortages to weather events like flooding and wildfires.
"I wish I could simply say it's because there aren't enough truckers, but it's much more complex than that," she said.
"In most cases we're seeing a delay of goods, not a shortage. The shelves will get restocked, eventually."
The comments came as Metro raised its quarterly dividend by 10 per cent to 27.5 cents per share and reported its first-quarter profit and sales climbed compared with a year ago.
The Montreal-based grocery and drugstore retailer said Tuesday it earned $207.7 million or 85 cents per diluted shared for the 12-week period ended Dec. 18, up from a profit of $191.2 million or 76 cents per share in the same quarter a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, Metro said it earned 88 cents per diluted share, up from an adjusted profit of 79 cents per diluted share a year ago.
Sales in the quarter totalled $4.32 billion, up from $4.28 billion in the same quarter last year. The increase came as food same-store sales fell 1.4 per cent compared with a year ago, while pharmacy same-store sales rose 7.7 per cent.
Metro said it expects sales to remain stable in its second quarter, but cautioned that there continues to be uncertainty.
In the short term, however, food sales are expected to remain relatively stable as restaurant closures and work-from-home advisories persist, Metro said.
On the pharmacy side, the company said sales are expected to climb compared with the prior year due to the launch of the COVID-19 rapid test distribution in its network coupled with less restrictive government measures.
Metro said it was "unfavourably impacted" last year by a six-week ban on the sale of non-essential goods in Quebec.
In light of the Omicron wave, Metro offered frontline store and distribution centre employees gift cards last week. Full-time workers will receive a $300 gift card while employees who work 15 hours a week or more will receive $150. Those that work fewer than 15 hours a week will receive $75.
The company operates under several banners including grocers Metro, Metro Plus, Super C and Food Basics, and drugstores under the Jean Coutu, Brunet, Metro Pharmacy and Drug Basics banners.
- This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 25, 2022.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
NEW After hearing thousands of last words, this hospital chaplain has advice for the living
Hospital chaplain J.S. Park opens up about death, grief and hearing thousands of last words, and shares his advice for the living.
BREAKING Police cordon off Iran consulate in Paris where man threatens to blow himself up: French media
French police cordoned off the Iranian consulate in Paris on Friday, where a man was threatening to blow himself up, Europe 1 radio and BFM TV.
Some Canadian families will receive up to $620 per child today
More money will land in the pockets of some Canadian families on Friday for the latest Canada Child Benefit installment.
BREAKING Iran fires at apparent Israeli attack drones near Isfahan air base and nuclear site
An apparent Israeli drone attack on Iran saw troops fire air defences at a major air base and a nuclear site early Friday morning near the central city of Isfahan, an assault coming in retaliation for Tehran's unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on the country.
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer denied bail after being charged with killing Canadian couple
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
Ottawa to force banks to call carbon rebate a carbon rebate in direct deposits
Canadian banks that refuse to identify the carbon rebate by name when doing direct deposits are forcing the government to change the law to make them do it, says Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.
Ontario woman loses $15,000 to fake Walmart job scam
A woman who recently moved to Canada from India was searching for a job when she got caught in an online job scam and lost $15,000.
After COVID, WHO defines disease spread 'through air'
The World Health Organization and around 500 experts have agreed for the first time on what it means for a disease to spread through the air, in a bid to avoid the confusion early in the COVID-19 pandemic that some scientists have said cost lives.
Prince Harry formally confirms he is now a U.S. resident
Prince Harry, the son of King Charles III and fifth in line to the British throne, has formally confirmed he is now a U.S. resident.