Canadian grocery retailer Loblaw has posted a 16% rise in quarterly profit, and said it aims to increase its non-food offering as it continues with expansion plans.
Loblaw reported earnings of C$218m, or 79 cents a share, for the third quarter, compared to earnings of $188m, or 68 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts had been expecting, on average, earnings of 80 cents a share, reported Reuters.
Revenue rose 7% to $7.7bn from $7.2bn, while same-store sales rose 4.3%.
The company, which operates the Provigo and Loblaws supermarket chains, plans to build superstores of up to 145,000 square feet in order to compete with Wal-Mart, Sobeys and Metro.
“We are moving ahead with superstores in Ontario. Five such stores will open by the end of this year,” Geoff Wilson, a vice-president of Loblaw, told Reuters.

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By GlobalData“We are going to sell new food products but also more (President’s Choice house brand) home items,” said Wilson.