Canadian Tire Corp. ended its second quarter with an additional $465.6-million in inventory, about 18 percent more than a year ago. Still, CEO Greg Hicks isn’t concerned about seeing the kind of excess inventory problems U.S. retailers are experiencing.
“We feel good about our inventory levels and don’t see any meaningful margin risk or incremental markdown requirements to clear inventory,” Hicks told analysts on an earnings call. He noted that the total includes more than $260-million in seasonal fall and winter goods, ordered early to avoid supply chain woes and currently in transit.
