BRAMPTON, ON, July 24, 2019 /CNW/ - Loblaw Companies Limited (TSX: L) ("Loblaw" or the "Company") announced today its unaudited financial results for the second quarter ended June 15, 2019. The Company's 2019 Second Quarter Report to Shareholders will be available in the Investors section of the Company's website at loblaw.ca and will be filed with SEDAR and available at sedar.com(Open in a new tab).

"We delivered on our financial plan in the quarter," said Galen G. Weston, Executive Chairman, Loblaw Companies Limited. "We have a long-term approach to investing and to building customer loyalty, and we remain committed to our strategy."

2019 SECOND QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

Unless otherwise indicated, the following highlights represent the Company's results from Continuing Operations and include the impacts of spin-out related incremental depreciation, the implementation of IFRS 16, "Leases" ("IFRS 16") and the consolidation of franchises. See "Other Business Matters" of this News Release for more information on the spin-out related incremental depreciation and the implementation of IFRS 16.

• Revenue was $11,133 million. When compared to the second quarter of 2018, this represented an increase of $312 million, or 2.9%.

• Retail segment sales were $10,906 million. When compared to the second quarter of 2018, this represented an increase of $306 million, or 2.9%.

  • Food retail (Loblaw) same-store sales growth was 0.6%.

  • Drug retail (Shoppers Drug Mart) same-store sales growth was 4.0%, with pharmacy same-store sales growth of 4.8% and front store same-store sales growth of 3.3%.

• Operating income was $588 million. When compared to the second quarter of 2018, this represented an increase of $78 million, or 15.3%.

  • Operating income included the year-over-year favourable impact of the implementation of IFRS 16 of approximately $82 million and the unfavourable impact of spin-out related incremental depreciation of approximately $20 million. Normalized for these impacts, operating income increased by $16 million, or 3.1%.

• Adjusted EBITDA² was $1,175 million. When compared to the second quarter of 2018, this represented an increase of $335 million, or 39.9%.

  • Adjusted EBITDA² included the year-over-year favourable impact of the implementation of IFRS 16 of $290 million. Normalized for this impact, adjusted EBITDA² increased by $45 million, or 5.4%.

• Net earnings available to common shareholders of the Company from Continuing Operations were $286 million. When compared to the second quarter of 2018, this represented a decrease of $7 million. Diluted net earnings per common share was $0.77. This was consistent when compared to the second quarter of 2018.

• Adjusted net earnings available to common shareholders of the Company² from Continuing Operations were $373 million, consistent with the second quarter of 2018. Normalized for the year-over-year impact of the spin-out related incremental depreciation of approximately $15 million, adjusted net earnings available to common shareholders of the Company² increased by $15 million, or 4.0%. IFRS 16 did not impact net earnings in the second quarter of 2019.

• Adjusted diluted net earnings from Continuing Operations per common share² were $1.01. In comparison to the second quarter of 2018, this represented an increase of $0.03, or 3.1%. Normalized for the year-over-year impact of the spin-out related incremental depreciation of approximately $0.04 per common share, adjusted diluted net earnings per common share² was $1.05. This represented an increase of approximately 7.1% or $0.07 per common share. IFRS 16 did not impact net earnings per share in the second quarter of 2019.

• In the second quarter of 2019, the Company repurchased 3.6 million common shares at a cost of $250 million.

• In the second quarter of 2019, the Company invested $209 million in capital expenditures and generated $333 million of free cash flow².

Note: This is an excerpt from the full release. To view the complete document, please download the full Q2 2019 news release(Open in a new tab).

¹ This News Release contains forward-looking information. See "Forward-Looking Statements" section of this News Release and the Company's 2019 Second Quarter Report to Shareholders for a discussion of material factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forecasts and projections herein and of the material factors and assumptions that were used when making these statements. This News Release should be read in conjunction with Loblaw Companies Limited's filings with securities regulators made from time to time, all of which can be found at sedar.com(Open in a new tab) and at loblaw.ca.

² See Section 12 "Non-GAAP Financial Measures" of the Company's 2019 Second Quarter Report to Shareholders, which includes the reconciliation of such non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures.