George Weston raises quarterly dividend, adjusted profit up

George Weston Ltd. raised its quarterly dividend as it said it saw strong results at its Loblaw operations, but that its Weston Foods bakery business continued to fall short of its expectations.

The company said it would raise its quarterly dividend by 2.5 cents to 51.5 cents per common share.

The dividend increase came as George Weston reported a third-quarter profit attributable to common shareholders of $51 million or 40 cents per share on sales of $14.86 billion.

That compared with a profit of $420 million or $3.25 per share on $14.64 billion in sales in the same quarter a year ago.

On an adjusted basis, George Weston said it earned $288 million or $2.25 per share for the quarter ended Oct. 6, compared with an adjusted profit of $277 million or $2.14 per share a year ago.

Thomson Reuters Eikon says analysts on average had expected a profit of $2.19 per share for the quarter.