Yet ongoing restaurant closures amid lockdowns continued to benefit
Loblaw said Wednesday its profits were up 30 per cent to
The company's strong results were buoyed by an improvement in its financial services business, as well as better-than-expected gross margins in food and drug sales.
However, Loblaw signalled that as the economy begins to reopen, revenue growth will be challenging going forward.
"I think it's a reasonable expectation that it's going to start to flatten out," Loblaw president
Indeed, most grocers have indicated that financial results will become more muted as they lap the elevated sales recorded during the first wave of COVID-19 when consumers stockpiled goods in an effort to limit their shopping frequency and abide by stay-at-home orders.
Loblaw said food retail same-stores sales growth was just 0.1 per cent in the quarter, for example, as the company overlapped last year's unprecedented pandemic demand.
"Food retail same-store sales were relatively flat," Loblaw chief financial officer
"Same-store sales continued with strong momentum from the fourth quarter before lapping the COVID-related pantry stocking from 2020, which drove same-store sales last year of 9.6 per cent, including 44 per cent in the final two weeks of the quarter."
Meanwhile, the company's higher profits came as the company's financial services segment saw a
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