Although pandemic restrictions limited in-store foot traffic at the company's supermarkets, same-store food sales climbed 10 per cent as shoppers bought more groceries with each visit or online order, the company said.
But pharmacy same-store sales edged up only slightly, dragged down by a 3.8 per cent drop in front-store sales as COVID-19 measures reduced in-store traffic as well as demand for cough and cold products.
"When you have a cold or a flu you tend to go to the drugstore to pick up either a prescription and/or some (over-the-counter medicine) and while you're at it why buy not some gum," Metro president and CEO
"When there are less people coming through the door, it has an impact on sales."
Metro also has about 650 drugstores primarily under the Jean Coutu, Brunet,
The quarter was also impacted by a labour conflict at a
"Our contingency plan enabled us to successfully maintain the supply of medication to over 400 pharmacies," La Fleche told investors. "We are now back to normal operating conditions in the distribution centre."
Meanwhile, Metro is expecting a new fresh food distribution centre in the
La Fleche said construction is complete and it will start shipping produce to stores in the coming weeks, with the full rollout of the new distribution centre expected to take about three months.
"It’s a new state-of-the-art facility," he said, noting that it will be partially automated. "We will have better operating conditions and I think product quality will only improve."
Metro operates a network of roughly 950 food stores under several banners including the full-service supermarkets Metro and Metro Plus and the discount stores Super C in
Looking ahead, Metro's second quarter is set to be impacted by
The provincial law is limiting the company's sales, said La Fleche.
"It affects general merchandise that we sell and mostly cosmetics, which is a significant part of our front end sales at Jean Coutu and Brunet," he said.
In the first four weeks of its second quarter, Metro said pharmacy front-end same store sales were down almost 12 per cent.
To mitigate the drop in sales, the company said its adjusting promotional activity and directing customers to shop online or to use the in-store order service.
In reporting its results, the grocery and pharmacy retailer raised its quarterly dividend to
Metro said it earned
Sales for the 12-week period ended
On an adjusted basis, Metro said it earned
This report by
Companies in this story: (TSX:MRU)
© 2021 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved., source