Loblaws sees increase in Q2 profit, revenue

On Wednesday, Canada's largest grocery chain, Loblaw Companies Ltd, released their report for the second quarter of 2022.

The report showed marked increases in revenue, retail sales, and net earnings.

"Loblaw delivered strong operational and financial results," the company wrote in a statement, "as it continued to execute on retail excellence in its core businesses, while advancing its growth and efficiencies initiatives."

They explained that their drug store, Shoppers, "continued to drive overall margin expansion, as sales benefited from growth in higher margin front-store categories. " Overall, drug retail was up 5.6 percent.

Loblaw chief financial officer Richard Dufresne said cough and cold sales were near where they usually are "in the middle of winter."  

As Global News reports, Shoppers opened up its first walk-in clinics during the quarter, which saw patients "on a very, very frequent basis." The company also acquired Lifemark Health Group.

Food retail sales also increased by 0.9 percent, which the company said was due in large part to "the strength of the No Frills and Maxi hard-discount stores and the Company’s value-focused control brand no name."

Not all sectors were positive, however. According to the report, e-commerce sales plummeted 17.5 percent, largely due to the fact that since Q2 2021, lockdowns have been lifted thus allowing people to resume normal in-person shopping.

Loblaw ended Q2 2022 with $387 million in net earnings available to common shareholders, an increase of 3.2 percent. Adjusted net earnings, however, rose 22 percent to $566 million.

Total revenue was up $356 million at $12.85 billion.

According to Global News, Loblaw expects inflation to peak in the near future, which will mean cheaper prices.

"Commodity price are coming off their highs," Dufresne said, adding that "some freight costs are coming down and supply chain issues are normalizing."