Loblaw profits grow in Q1

BRAMPTON, Ont. ― Loblaw Companies Ltd. increased its profits to $0.47 per share from $0.35, as revenue increased on the strength of its grocery and pharmacy retail business. Revenues of $10.4 billion represented an increase of 3.3% from the previous year’s Q1. The company generated $193 million in net income, jumping from 32.2%, while same-store food retail sales climbed by 2.6%. In the drug sector, the growth was 6.3%. President and executive chair Galen G. Weston predicted that food prices, which have risen over the past year, will began to fall again in the short term. “We see inflation slowing down as the Canadian dollar continues to increase,” he told analysts this week. “We see consumer prices coming down in certain markets and certain categories.”