Montreal-based Metro sees profits shoot up amid surging same-store sales growth

Metro Inc. says earnings surged in its latest quarter, fuelled by higher same-store sales.

In the quarter ended July 1, the grocery and drug store retailer says net earnings skyrocketed 26 per cent to $346.7 million from $275 million a year earlier.

Metro says the massive gains in its third quarter are due in part to a tax benefit after the Canada Revenue Agency granted capital losses to the company that had previously been disallowed.

Nonetheless, adjusted net earnings rose 11 per cent to $314.8 million last quarter from $283.8 million the year before, while adjusted fully diluted net earnings leaped 14 per cent to $1.35 per share from $1.18 per share.

Analysts had expected adjusted net earnings of $1.29 per share, according to financial markets data firm Refinitiv.

The Montreal-based company says sales increased by 10 per cent to $6.43 billion from $5.87 billion a year prior, boosted by same-store sales growth of nine per cent.

The hefty third-quarter earnings come as Metro grocery store workers in the Greater Toronto Area continue to strike, nearly two weeks after the 3,700 front-line employees walked off the job over wage issues amid rapid inflation of the same groceries they sell daily.

(TSX:MRU)

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Aug. 9, 2023.