WE HAVE TO MANAGE THE HOURS THE BEST WE CAN.

we are making progress,” Le Fleche told analysts on a Wednesday conference call to discuss fourth-quarter results, which saw higher earnings and a slight rise in same-store sales.

Metro, with stores in Quebec and Ontario, now offers click and collect at seven of its stores in Quebec, as well as home grocery delivery in Montreal, Gatineau and Quebec City, covering 60 per cent of the province’s population.

There is “clearly a customer preference for home delivery,” said the CEO.

In the meantime, Metro has felt the pain of Costco’s expansion. The popular warehouse club is on course to open seven stores in Canada in 2017.

“There is a big club format that has added a lot of square feet in the last 18 months,” La Fleche said. “That has an impact on the whole market.”

Over a million square feet of grocery space was added to the market in the last year, La Fleche said. “To say that has no impact would be lying. It creates competition, it creates a heavily promotional environment and it has an impact.”

Metro added to its market clout with the $4.5-billion friendly takeover of pharmacy chain Jean Coutu Group announced last month.

The combined retailer will have $16 billion in annual revenue and a network of over 1,300 stores in Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick.

In the fourth quarter ended Sept. 30, Metro earned $154.9 million, or 66 cents per share, compared with profit of $145 million (60 cents) in the same period a year ago. That beat analyst mean estimates by a penny.

Shares fell 34 cents to $41.21 in midday trading Wednesday.

Sales were $3.23 billion, up from $2.93 billion. Samestore sales, a key measure of industry performance that strips out the effects of added square footage, rose 0.4 per cent. Last week Loblaw reported same-store sales growth of 1.4 per cent, excluding gasoline.