Loblaw reports surprise growth in Q1

Loblaw Cos. Ltd. said this week its Q1 profits grew 30 percent to $313 million from the comparable period of 2020. Revenues for the quarter amounted to $11.87 billion, an increase of $11.8 billion. The first quarter of 2020 saw a wave of panic buying at the pandemic’s outset that observers expected would be a high bar to top. On a call to analysts, president Sarah Davis said that revenues can be expected to “flatten out” in fiscal 2021: “We’re not going to see the high growth that we saw last year.”