Loblaw second-quarter profit, revenue meet estimates

The Loblaw grocery and pharmacy business says it had $286 million of net earnings from continuing operations during its second quarter, as revenue increased 2.9% from a year earlier.

Loblaw Companies Ltd.'s profit of 77 cents per share from continuing operations was down $7 million from $293 million in last year's second quarter.

However, last year's overall second quarter profit was only $50 million or 13 cents per share after including a $243-million loss from its investment in Choice Properties, which is listed as a discontinued operation.

Loblaw says its revenue for the 12 weeks ended June 15 was $11.13 billion, up $312 million from $10.82 billion in the second quarter of 2018. Same-store sales from food retail was up 0.6% while same-store sales from drug retail grew 4% from last year.

Adjusted diluted net earnings from continuing operations was $1.01 per share, up from 93 cents per share last year. Discontinued operations didn't contribute to this year's second-quarter adjusted earnings, but added 13 cents last year.

The results were in line with analyst estimates of $1.01 per share of adjusted earnings and revenue of $11.15 billion, according to financial markets data firm Refinitiv.