Imperial President and CEO Michael Medline said the company’s internal inflation calculated for the quarter was “below” food inflation in the consumer price index.
Medellin discussed the company’s latest results during a conference call with financial analysts.
Statistics Canada inflation data for April showed that food purchased from stores increased by 3.8% year-on-year, faster than Toutiao inflation, or 1.7%.
Going forward, food inflation is expected to be consistent with long-term averages, Medline said. “Over the past 25 years, the inflation rate of food purchased from stores in CPI averaged 3%. While there may be some ups and downs, we believe this trend will be achieved,” he said. “All it can be said is that we cannot reconcile information about inflation in some people in the media, food or industry to relate to what we actually encounter.”
Medline said the company’s approach to managing the effectiveness of tariffs involves buying more local products, leveraging supply sources outside the U.S. and having “hard discussions with suppliers” about the cost increase from border taxation.
He said Canadians continued to use domestic products in the fiscal fourth quarter, and he believed “most of this behavior is getting tricky.”
“In retail, especially in the grocery business, there is no need for a lot of people to change their behavior. And there are people who change their behavior, (who) won’t look back. We are doing our best to make them very happy on the banner.”
The Empire has been working to shift its supply chains to favor domestic producers as shoppers tend to retaliate against Canadian-made products in opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs and annexation.
“It’s clear that as sales of Canadian products continue to rise, our customers are voting with their wallets,” Medline said.
Additionally, he noted that the Empire’s procurement of American products “continues to decline”, a trend he expects to continue entering the growing season for Canadian agricultural products.
Empire said the company’s owners made $173 million in owners or $0.74 per diluted stock in the quarter ended May 3. The results depend on profits per diluted stock a year ago of $149 million or $0.61.
Total sales for the quarter were $7.64 billion, up from $7.41 billion in the same period last year.
Same-store same-store fuel sales fell 3%, and fuel sales fell 7.8% due to lowering the government’s carbon tax. Same-store food sales rose by 3.8%.
According to the Adjusted Empire, the Empire said it made $0.74 per diluted share in the latest quarter, up from adjusted profit of $0.63 per share a year ago.
The company also said it plans to renovate 20 to 25 percent of its store network between 2024 and 2026 financial years.
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