Canadian Tire beats expectations
TORONTO — Canadian Tire Corp., Ltd. topped expectations as it reported its fourth-quarter profit and sales grew compared with a year ago during the crucial holiday shopping season.
The retailer said Thursday it earned a profit attributable to shareholders of $275.7 million or $4.10 per diluted share, compared to $246.8 million or $3.46 per diluted share in the same quarter a year earlier. Analysts on average had expected a profit of $3.80 per share and revenue of $3.75 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.
Actual revenue totalled $3.96 billion, up from $3.64 billion as samestore sales — a key retail metric for sales of existing stores — gained momentum across its banners.
Same-store sales at Canadian Tire were up 3.5 per cent, while its Mark’s clothing stores saw samestore sales gain 3.4 per cent. FGL Sports, which includes the Sport Chek banner, saw same-store sales increase 5.8 per cent.
“2018 will see us continuing to drive growth and profitability while taking advantage of the opportunities created by the new and changing retail environment,” said president and CEO Stephen Wetmore.
“We remain committed to investing in innovative initiatives that will help us exceed the expectations of our loyal customer base.”
Analyst Irene Nattel said the company’s strong results are a “direct result of initiatives implemented by management around assortment, promotional activity and sourcing terms/efficiency initiatives.”
The company has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in innovation over the past few years, even as many other brick-and-mortar retailers struggle to compete with the rise of e-commerce.
That includes everything from renovating existing stores to be more interactive to incorporating virtual reality for customers to test out how tires feel in different driving conditions.
On Wednesday, Canadian Tire Corp. said it has acquired SherWood Athletics Group Inc.’s global hockey trademarks and related inventory of hockey gear and hockey licensed products for an undisclosed price.
Shares in the company rose 5.5 per cent to $172.66 in midday trading Thursday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The Canadian Press