Stock market reacts positively to Sobeys plan to cut executive position

Sobeys parent company saw its stock gain ground on light trading Wednesday as investors reacted positively to the Nova Scotia-based national grocers’ rst round of corporate layo s. Empire Company stock was up 41 cents, or 1.88 per cent, to $22.25 at 2 p.m. Atlantic Time from Tuesday’s closing price of $21.84.

The bump up in the company’s stock came the day after Sobeys announced it was cutting 75 executive positions at its o ces across the country, including 14 in Pictou County and three in Dartmouth.

e much-anticipated move is part of restructuring dubbed Project Sunrise which is to trim $500 million in annual costs from the Stellarton-based grocer’s books and beef up the bottom line. e restructuring plan was announced in early May and this is only the rst of ongoing layo which are expected to continue through to the end of the year.

Sta at Sobeys stores are not to be a ected by Project Sunrise, only employees at corporate o ces.

“The grocery business is highly competitive and our regionally-based structure slowed us down. As we move to a national, functionally-led company we have an aggressive goal to transform our organization and leverage our size and scale,” said Michael Medline, Sobeys president and chief executive o cer, in a statement Tuesday.

“Change of this magnitude is not easy on our employees, but we remain committed to making tough decisions, and executing the necessary changes, to ensure our future success,” he said.

Empire, which trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the EMP ticker, has a market capitalization of almost $6.04 billion.