Empire working to mitigate proposed minimum wage increases

Empire Company Limited says the financial impact of the proposed minimum wage increases in Ontario and Alberta on its operations could be up to $25 million in its 2018 financial year and $70 million in its 2019 financial year.

The grocery retailer said the estimates represented only the wage increase for people earning less than the anticipated new rates and does not assume any changes to other wage bands.

It said it had developed plans to mitigate the impact in 2018 and is working on plans for 2019.

The estimate follows remarks by Loblaw and Metro which also noted the rise in the minimum wage rates would increase its costs.

Empire said Thursday it earned $54 million on $6.27 billion in sales in the first quarter of its 2018 financial year. That compared with a profit of $65.4 million on nearly $6.19 billion in sales a year earlier.