TORONTO – Several years of above-average grocery square footage growth has finally abated in Metro Inc.’s key markets of Ontario and Quebec, but stiff competition from the likes of Loblaw and Walmart means the supermarket is still locked into a pricing war with its rivals.
The level of merchandise sold on promotion continues to be high even though food price inflation has helped grow sales, chief executive Eric La Flèche told an analysts’ day for Canada’s third-largest grocery chain.
“Although some prices are going up, the fact that promotions are also going up is having an impact — to hold inflation lower than the CPI numbers that you tend to see,” La Flèche said. He added Metro’s management predicts inflation will begin to decelerate this year. In the second quarter Metro reported a 15.2 per cent rise in net profit, the Montreal-based company said last month. Same-store sales, an important measure tallying volume at stores open for more than a year, rose 4.5 per cent.
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