Metro Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
November 15, 2023

There are 11 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Metro Inc. 2023 4th Quarter Results Conference Call. Also note that this call is being recorded on Wednesday, November 15, 2023. And I would like to turn the conference over to Sharon Cadoche. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Call. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Our comments will focus on the financial results of our 4th quarter, which ended on September 30. With me today is Mr. Eric La Fleche, President and Chief Executive Officer and I'm Francois Thibault, Executive VP and Chief Financial Officer.

Speaker 1

During the call, we will present our 4th quarter results and comment on its highlights. We will then be happy to take your questions. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that we will use in today's discussion different Statements that could be construed as forward looking information. In general, any statement which does not constitute a historical fact may be deemed a forward looking statement. Words or expressions such as expect, intend, are confident that, will and other similar words or expressions are generally indicative of forward looking statements.

Speaker 1

The The forward looking statements are based upon certain assumptions regarding the Canadian food and pharmaceutical industries, the general economy, our annual budget and our 2023 2024 Action Plan. These forward looking statements do not provide any guarantees as to the future performance of the company and are subject to potential risks known and unknown as well as uncertainties that could cause the outcome to differ materially. Risk factors That could cause actual results or events to differ materially from our expectations as expressed in or implied by our forward looking statements are described under the Risk Management section in our 2022 annual report. We believe these forward looking statements to be reasonable and pertinent at this time and represent our expectations. The company does not intend to update any forward looking statements except as required by applicable law.

Speaker 1

I will now turn the call over to Francois.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Shailan, and good morning, everyone. I have more to cover than usual this quarter. I'll start by highlighting that the Q4 of the Fiscal year had 13 weeks versus 12 weeks for the same quarter last year. Also, our 4th quarter was unfavorably impacted by 36 $700,000 pre tax of estimated lost profits and direct costs from a labor conflict at 27 Metro stores in the Greater Toronto area that lasted 5.5 weeks. This figure applies to 27 stores and does not include other unfavorable impacts, which affected our network such as those resulting from the illegal picketing of our distribution centers.

Speaker 2

For competitive reasons, we do not disclose the impact on the sales of these 27 stores. Call. Turning to our results, sales reached $5,720,000,000 an increase of 14.4% versus the same period last year and when we exclude the 13 week, sales grew by 5.4%. Food same store sales were up 6.8% in the quarter and pharma same store sales up 5.5%. The comparable food sales figure excludes the impact of the strike.

Speaker 2

Gross profit was unfavorably impacted by $36,300,000 as a result of the strike and gross margin for the quarter came in at 19.5% versus 20.4% in the same quarter last year. The decrease in gross margin reflects the impact of lost sales related to the labor conflict as well as a decline in our food margin, partly offset by an increase in our pharma division. Operating expenses amounted to $540,300,000 That's up 13.5% or 4.7% when we exclude the 13 week. The net impact of the labor conflict on operating expenses in the Q4 2023 was an increase of $400,000 Operating expenses as a percent of sales was 10.7%, Same as last year, but if not for lost sales due to the strike, operating expenses as a percent of sales would have been lower than last year. Call.

Speaker 2

EBITDA for the quarter totaled $448,000,000 up 1.5% year over year and represented 8.8% of sales versus 10% last year or 9.7% of sales when we removed the large gain on sale of assets that we did last year. Total depreciation and amortization expense for the quarter was $125,000,000 versus $119,800,000 last year and the 4.2% increase reflects the additional investments in supply chain logistics as well as in store technology. Adjusted net earnings were $228,800,000 compared to $219,400,000 last year, a 4.3% increase and our adjusted net earnings per share amounted to $0.99 up 7.6% versus last year's adjusted EPS of $0.92 The strike had an unfavorable impact on adjusted EPS of $0.12 per share, call, whereas the extra week had a favorable impact of $0.12 per share as well. At the end of fiscal 2023, Capital expenditures amounted to close to $680,000,000 versus $621,000,000 last year. We invested less in our original guidance mostly due to some real estate purchases that were postponed.

Speaker 2

For fiscal 2024, we expect CapEx to reach a record level north of about $800,000,000 as we continue our investments modernization of our supply chain in both provinces. CapEx will reduce to a more normal level post 2024. On the retail side, fiscal 2023 was a busy year as we opened 8 new stores. In Quebec, we opened 1 Metro store and 3 Super Cs, While converting another Metro to a supersede in Gastonot, and in Ontario, we opened 1 Metro store and 2 Food Basics. We also carried out major renovation in 10 stores, representing a net increase of 256,300 square feet or 1.2% of our food retail network.

Speaker 2

In the pipeline for fiscal 2024, we are budgeting 8 new discount stores including 2 conversions and 1 new Metro stores. Call. We will also undertake more than 25 major renovation projects. Under our normal course issuer bid, We have repurchased over 6,700,000 shares for a total consideration of $484,400,000 representing an average share price of $72.09 The program ends on November 24, and we plan on renewing it as we remain committed to returning excess free cash flow to our shareholders through share repurchases. Call.

Speaker 2

I will finish by providing an outlook for fiscal 2024. As we speak, we are ramping up our new state of the art Automated distribution center north of Montreal and the expansion of our Montreal produced facility as planned. We are also preparing for the launch the final phase of our automated fresh facility in Toronto next spring. While these investments position us well for continued long term profitable growth, We are facing significant headwinds in fiscal 2024 as we incur some temporary duplication of costs and learning curve inefficiencies call as well as higher depreciation and lower capitalized interest. In comparison, the investment we made so far in Ontario to modernize the supply chain were phased over a longer period.

Speaker 2

Call. Therefore, we will not fully absorb these additional expenses and we are currently forecasting EBITDA to grow by less than 2% in fiscal 2024 versus the level reported in fiscal 2023 and adjusted net earnings per share in fiscal 2024 to be flat to $0.10 down versus the level reported in fiscal 2023. Call. We expect to resume our profit growth post fiscal 2024 and we are maintaining our publicly disclosed annual growth target of between 8% 10% for net earnings per share over the medium and long term. That's it for me.

Speaker 2

I'll turn it over to Eric.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Francois, and good morning, everyone. We are pleased with our 4th quarter results, which were achieved in a challenging operating environment that included a 5.5 week strike at 27 Metro stores in Ontario. For the first time in our history, sales for the year exceeded 20,000,000,000 and net earnings reached $1,000,000,000 Our sales momentum remains strong fueled by our discount banners and pharmacy. For the quarter, food same store sales were up 6.8%, driven by the continuing shift to discount for a 2 year stack of +15%. Our internal food basket inflation decelerated to 5.5%, which is about 2% lower than the reported food CPI and down from 8% in our 3rd quarter.

Speaker 3

Similar to previous quarters, transactions were up, the average basket increased slightly, tonnage was up, Promotional penetration remained high and private label sales continue to outpace national brands. Call. In pharmacy, we delivered a strong balanced performance despite the expected decrease in demand for over the counter medication as we were lapping Exceptionally strong sales in Q4 last year. Total pharmacy comparable sales were up 5.5% on top of 7.4% in the Q4 last year. Prescription sales were up 6.7% driven by the dispensing fee indexations, call.

Speaker 3

Growth in High Cost Molecules and Professional Services. Commercial sales were up 3.1%, primarily driven by cosmetics, call. The 2 year stack is 13.5% for prescription sales and 13.3% for commercial products. Call. As you know, the employees in 27 of our Metro stores located in the GTA were on strike for 5.5 weeks call.

Speaker 3

In August, we reached a satisfactory 5 year collective agreement, which provides significant wage increases as well as pension and benefits improvements for all employees. As an offset, we were able to improve scheduling flexibility, which will lead to increased productivity. Turning to our loyalty program. We are pleased with the early results following the launch of the Moi program in Quebec. We doubled our member base, which now counts more than 2,400,000 members with the majority shopping at least 2 of our banners.

Speaker 3

Call. The Moab program performance continues to improve week over week with healthy growth in swipe rates and loyalty sales penetration. We see many opportunities to grow customer engagement with more personalized offers and communications to our customers based on their shopping habits across our banners. Call. Our online food sales were up 116% versus last year, beating total market food e comm sales, which were essentially flat.

Speaker 3

Call. Our growth is fueled by 3rd party partnerships and by expanding click and collect to our discount stores. Turning to our supply chain. We started operations last month in the frozen section of our new Terbonne DC North of Montreal. This new automated distribution center represents the future of Metro's fresh and frozen product distribution in Quebec.

Speaker 3

It will strengthen our market position, generate new opportunities for our company and our employees and enable us to remain competitive while pursuing our growth. The state of the art facility is expected to ramp up in stages over the coming months and be fully operational by the end of fiscal 'twenty four. In Toronto, our Fresh Phase 1 and Frozen DC are tracking to the business plan and teams are getting ready for Fresh Phase 2 set to begin operations call next summer. As we begin our Q1, the current trend of food inflation Stabilizing month over month and declining year over year is continuing as we will cycle high inflation numbers over the next three quarters. Call.

Speaker 3

However, we are still receiving price increase requests from the big CPG companies, which our teams will negotiate as much as possible. So we expect food inflation to moderate going forward. On the pharmacy side, we will be going up against tough comps in the first half of fiscal 'twenty four as we lapped extraordinary demand in OTC medication due to post COVID-nineteen cough and cold symptoms last year. Following our commitment in October 2022 to rigorously evaluate the feasibility and cost of achieving Achieving the science based targets initiative net zero standard, the company reviewed and adjusted the scope of its existing objectives by committing to set near term emission reduction targets in line with the SBTI standards. We are setting science based targets call that are ambitious but realistic.

Speaker 3

In closing, I want to address the outlook Francois just gave you for fiscal 2024. As you know, we normally do not give guidance and we don't intend to give guidance in the future. However, we wanted to be transparent on the impact of our major investments we'll have on our results for fiscal 2024, which I would describe as a transition year. I am confident that these key investments will improve our competitive position, allowing us to better serve our customers and will position us well to continue our long term profitable growth. That's it.

Speaker 3

Thank you and we'll be happy to take your questions.

Operator

Call. And your first question will be from Tamy Chen at BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Hi, good morning. Thanks for the question. Call. Wanted to start with the fiscal 2024 outlook and the DCs here. So can you elaborate a bit more on what the call.

Speaker 4

I think you alluded to that in Ontario, it was all phased over a longer period. So call. Over here, are you just trying to do everything faster and that's what's leading to some issues? And the press release had called out some learning curve inefficiency. So Are you able to elaborate on all of that a bit more?

Speaker 3

Yes. Thank you for the question. It's exactly that. In Ontario, we did fresh Phase 1 In 2021, we did the freezer in 2022. And we're going back there next spring for fresh Phase 2.

Speaker 3

Call. Here in 2024, we have fresh and frozen for Quebec, which is just opening. So it's a mega center. It's It's 550,000 square feet brand new automated DC. We're operating in that center right now, but we have not seized The operations in the former DC.

Speaker 3

So the former fresh and frozen DCs in Quebec City and in Montreal are still operating to this day as we transition volume call. From those DCs to the new DC, it will be done over several months. We started with Frozen, things are going well. We're going to do fish next, then we're going to take a pause for the holidays and then go early in the New Year start with the fresh product. So there's duplication in warehousing call.

Speaker 3

And transportation costs, so there are non recurrent excess costs for sure. Call. Then we will expand our produce DC in Montreal to enable our growth. We're moving all dairy products from that DC to the new automated DC interban, so that's another transition. And then we ramp up the new expanded space call.

Speaker 3

At Jardin Meriette for produce. And we go back to Toronto all in the same fiscal year to do fresh Phase 2. So there's a lot of moving pieces, call. A lot of work. We're confident that it's going to go well, but it's going to cost money.

Speaker 3

It's going to cost money to do that, especially in the 1st year. And that's why we're transparent and we're saying that's a big headwind. It will impede our reported profits next year, but it positions us well for the future. Depreciation is going to go up. No question about that.

Speaker 3

Capitalized interest, we will no longer capitalize. So that's affecting call. Our bottom line next year. So in a nutshell, it's a big transition year. We're confident it's going to go well.

Speaker 3

We have learned a lot in Toronto. We expect ramp up periods to be faster here in Quebec, call. But there's always some learnings and there's some issues as you start new DCs, new systems, new ways of doing things. So it's going to be it's going to have an impact next year. That's why we're doing this one time guidance.

Speaker 4

Call. I see. Okay. I guess I'm wondering as a follow-up to that, there was more of, I guess, call. I'm just curious as to why for the 2nd round of work largely in Quebec, call.

Speaker 4

The timeline is much shorter and yet so much more going on.

Speaker 3

Well, in Ontario, we built call. The projects on existing land, on existing it was our existing facilities that we Built next to it, demolished and did it in phases, so we were able to stage it. Here, the new DC in Terrebonne is one site, one big facility for both fresh and frozen, so it's All at the same time. And then when you open this large facility, you want to increase throughput. You want to bring merchandise in from all the other DCs.

Speaker 3

So the dairy, which is with our produce today, It's going to go into the automated facility. So that's going to incur some costs, but it's going to improve the profitability or the returns on the new big Fixed cost facility. So it's just that the sequencing in Quebec is faster because of it's one big center.

Speaker 4

Call. Okay. Got it. And my last question is, so are you expecting this to all be fully resolved by the end of Next fiscal year or could there be some spillover into fiscal 2025? I was just reading your press release outlook part.

Speaker 4

It sounded as though you expect this all to be that the drag to be fully resolved within fiscal 2024? Thanks.

Speaker 3

Yes. Well, we're saying that post fiscal 'twenty four, we'll be back on our growth path and our growth track to and we maintain our long term average call. Medium and long term annual target growth objectives are maintained. 8% to 10% EPS call. It's been our long time number and we're still committed to it.

Speaker 4

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Call. Thank you. Next question will be from Irene Nattel with RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead. Call.

Speaker 5

Thanks and good morning everyone. Just following on the discussion about the guidance, can you please walk us through call. What your anticipated return on investment is? Does it exceed your, I guess, mid teens hurdle rate? And Over what period of time should we expect to see those returns coming through?

Speaker 2

Irene, good morning. Well, same as what we said for Ontario, call. Our internal rate of return or return on investment that we're looking at is the same whatever the project, a new store, renovation, a conversion, CapEx is CapEx funded from the same sources. So we are looking for the same double digit after tax cash on cash return. Call.

Speaker 2

Obviously, this is a longer term project, so you don't get the savings in the first call. A couple of years like you do for a store for example. But over the medium term, you start to get there. But we will we are confident we will achieve Our targeted rate of return as expected. And based on what as Eric said, based on the experience we've had so far in Ontario, call.

Speaker 2

We're confident that we're in good position to achieve that rate of return.

Speaker 5

That's great. Thank you. Call. If we could turn back to operations, please. Obviously, really nice number on the same store sales from what you were saying.

Speaker 5

It sounds as though all the key metrics are going in the right direction. Can you talk about what you're seeing in terms of consumer behavior? Call. Where you think the incremental traffic is coming from and what you're seeing in conventional versus discount? Thank you.

Speaker 5

Call.

Speaker 3

Thank you for the question. No material change to customer behavior. The trends we've been observing for the last Over a year and a half now, the shift to discount continues. The growth in sales on the conventional versus discount, there's a gap and that gap is significant. We are well positioned with Super C and Food Basics to capture that growth.

Speaker 3

So we're very pleased with our traffic and our tonnage in our discount stores. Call. The momentum is strong and we're happy about that. So trading down private label growth, Heavy duty promotional pressure not pressure, but penetration is consistent with what we've described over the previous calls, and That's still happening. So it's a very competitive environment.

Speaker 3

As more discount square footage It is being added to the market. It's having an impact for sure, but we're well positioned to continue to grow in that market.

Speaker 5

Call. That's great. Thanks, Eric.

Operator

Thank you. Next question will be from Mark Petrie at CIBC. Please go ahead.

Speaker 6

Call. Yes, good morning. Actually, just a follow-up maybe first on that food same store sales result. I know you don't like to get into the details, but Clearly, the continued shift to discount is a tailwind for you and you're gaining share.

Speaker 2

But I wanted to ask you

Speaker 6

what the relative to performance in full service, how that has trended Q3 to Q4 and if the share gains look different by channel?

Speaker 3

Well, we're pleased with our share performance call? By province and by format compared to the direct competition. So call. We won't disclose more than that, but the share of our conventional stores versus the conventional peer set is growing. Call.

Speaker 3

If you exclude the strike in Ontario, of course. So we're pleased with that, and it's been consistent over the last several quarters. On the discount side, our share has been growing for over a year. In Quebec, as the discount call. Market size due to a competitor converting many, many stores.

Speaker 3

As that pie grows on the discount side, We are very pleased with our growth, but on a relative market share basis, discount, call. The performance is not the same as it was a quarter or 2 ago, but in total market terms, our discount banners in Quebec are growing share call. For sure. I hope that's clear.

Speaker 6

Yes. Yes. No, that is clear. Thank you. I appreciate the color there.

Speaker 6

And Francois, just to clarify, call. With regards to same store sales for this period, does your do those I think you said the strike stores were included in same store sales, but does that mean that call. The full period of in the same store sales base includes those stores that were impacted by the strike, but then call. In the current period, they were not included, is that right? Or they were excluded in both?

Speaker 3

They were excluded in both. Yes. So the 27 stores for 6 weeks call are out of the same store sales numbers last year and this year.

Speaker 6

Yes, understood. Okay. And then one more question, if I could, please. I mean, obviously, there's a lot of volume pressure in the industry just given the shifts in consumer behavior. And I'm curious just to call.

Speaker 6

I'll hear how you think about the impact in your business. Obviously, lots of different elements across private label penetration, promotional investments, call. Cost leverage, is that a factor in your outlook for fiscal 2024 or is it really I mean it's predominantly the D. Two issues, but just curious about the sort of industry pressures for fiscal 2024.

Speaker 3

Well, the guidance we're giving On EPS for next year is all related to the headwinds due to our distribution program modernization program. The market is the market. We expect to compete really well and to continue to do well from an operations point of view and Sales growth, margins, market share, those we're very confident will continue to perform well. Call. The headwinds are related to the distribution program.

Speaker 6

Okay. Appreciate all the comments and all the best. Thank you.

Operator

Next question will be from George Doumet at Scotiabank. Please go ahead. Yeah.

Speaker 7

Good morning, guys. Just a follow-up on the Terrebonne. Is there a way you can maybe give us a sense of the margin benefits that we should expect once that's wrapped up? And presumably we should grow well above 8% to 10% in fiscal 2025 as we get some of that benefit from turbine, but maybe any color there would be appreciated.

Speaker 2

Call. Well, as we said, the greater return we get on the investments are long term, which by the bulk of these extra costs On the electrification and learning curve efficient and so forth, it will be behind us, expected to be behind us post 2024. Call. So yes, as we did in Ontario, we're looking for improvements or at least more tools to be able to improve The margin better in store servicing, better in stock position, better quality, which all has a rippling effect on our growth. Call.

Speaker 2

So that's why we're confident that we maintain our growth targets.

Speaker 3

Just a little more color

Speaker 7

on that.

Speaker 3

We're not going to give you specific numbers on the benefits. Call. But just an example, for those of you on the Investor Day who saw the frozen DC, you were able to see call. The automation level, the number of employees and the volume that we're going that is going through that facility. Call.

Speaker 3

And we were able to internalize a lot of formerly DSD product into our warehouse. So we're going to do the same in Quebec. We're confident that this will Help improve service to stores. It will help improve in stock position in stores. It will help our sales and that will help our margins.

Speaker 3

It will help our same store sales. It will help our market share. So there's a lot of factors at play when you do big supply chain investments that should benefit at retail. We're seeing some of that in Ontario With our frozen DC and we expect more of the same in fresh and frozen down the road in Quebec. We're not going to give you an exact number, But in our business case and the return calculations, we do put some money in there for those benefits.

Speaker 3

So That's why we're confident we're going to get the returns that we need on the investments that we needed to make. We were we needed capacity, We needed to grow and these investments were required. So it wasn't as if we could continue to operate in our DCs for the next 30 years. Call. We've grown a lot in the last 20 years and we want to grow some more in the next 20 years.

Speaker 3

That's why we make these investments for the long term. Call. Okay.

Speaker 7

Thanks. I just wanted to touch on the pharmacy. There's some pretty good numbers there. So maybe first on Rx, can you maybe help break out that number? How much of that was higher indexation fees, Maybe volumes and anything that you can maybe tell us on what's happening over there?

Speaker 3

Well, the Rx number at 6.7 is healthy. Call. We said indexation of the script fees by the government on the public sector scripts, call. Same on the private sector fixed fees. So there's indexation of the script fee that's contributing to that lift.

Speaker 3

Call. Expensive molecules are contributing to that lift. Ozempic is contributing to that lift. Call. And professional services, vaccinations, flu shots, that's increasing.

Speaker 3

So call. There's a lift in the 6.7% on top of the normal Rx counts. Call. So we're pleased with that. And our share of Rx in the Quebec market is very consistent and continues to be number 1.

Speaker 3

Call. And we're pleased with our performance.

Speaker 7

Okay. And just last one for me, shifting over the front store, obviously, some pretty strong numbers there. But I think call. Inflation is high for the for HEBA products. So can you talk a little bit about the volume trends that you're seeing when it comes to, HEBA in general?

Speaker 7

And are Are you seeing a trade down? Are you seeing a slowdown? Can you talk a little bit about that?

Speaker 3

Inflation in HABA is A little lower than food inflation that we're reporting. So it's not abnormally high inflation in HABO at all. The front store sales number is impacted by OTC. Those numbers are down year over year. Last year OTC numbers were sky high Because of post COVID and sanitary relief and whatnot, there were a lot of symptoms last year in Q4 and in Q1 call.

Speaker 3

Of 2023, so we're cycling that. So given that, we're pleased with our HABA performance. Cosmetics Our strong seasonal performance was good. So 3.1 doesn't sound like a home run, but compared to what we were cycling last year on a 2 year stack basis, It's quite strong and we're pleased with that performance. But there's still going to be pressure for the first half of twenty twenty four, I said in my opening statement on OTC sales because of the in Q1 and Q2 of fiscal 'twenty three, call.

Speaker 3

The cough and cold season symptoms and the flu season was very high, and that contributed to big numbers last year, and We expect that to be lower this year.

Speaker 7

Okay, great. Thanks for the color. Appreciate it.

Speaker 3

Thank you.

Speaker 7

Call.

Operator

Next question will be from Vishal Shreedhar at National Bank. Please go ahead.

Speaker 8

Hi. Thanks for taking my questions. Call. I just wanted to go back to the DC in Quebec. Would you consider the delta call that you issued in your outlook for fiscal 2024 relative to Street expectations.

Speaker 8

Is that predominantly from The planned costs that you saw coming and the street didn't adequately reflect it? Or was there some unplanned initiatives or unplanned events in there that caused that delta to magnify? Call. It is a large delta on EBITDA versus The Street, so I just wanted to get that thought.

Speaker 3

Well, we are responsible for what The Street Expectations will be, but we've been pretty transparent that we're making these are well known investments. We've been talking about it since 2017, 2018. It's It's a multiyear program with we started at €800,000,000 plus it's going to be more like €1,000,000,000 because of inflation and construction and all that. Call. We've been on this program and these facilities need to be ramped up and they need to be amortized going forward.

Speaker 3

So call. That's the math here. So that's why we're giving that guidance to be very transparent. Call.

Speaker 8

Okay. I appreciate that. And on the actual D and A increase, are you going to give us some specific help on those numbers? Call.

Speaker 2

Yes. I think we're not going to Michel, we're not going to break down the headwinds per category and so forth. But I think for depreciation, what we can say for This year is the total increase, not just for the DC that we're talking about, but total depreciation You can use a $50,000,000 plus delta for the year, obviously Gradual, but the bulk of the increase happening in Q1 because the tail bond is starting live. So you could assume about $50,000,000 more depreciation expense and you could assume about less than $15,000,000 of lower capitalized interest. And I'll leave it at that in terms of the impact for next year.

Speaker 8

Okay. And the duplicative costs, are you going to give us any help call on those and how long will those duplicate costs stay in the P and L?

Speaker 2

Well, we gave you some impact as we tell you that our EBITDA is expected to grow by less than 2%. So we are absorbing part of these increases, but we're not absorbing all of it. Call. And we will obviously as a quarter as we progress in the year, we'll talk about our results. But as I said, based on the experience we had in Toronto, the bulk of these inefficiencies and duplication should be behind us post 2024.

Speaker 2

That's the expectation.

Speaker 8

Call. Got it. Okay. Just changing topics here. I just want to I was hoping you could update us on your view on acquisitions, call, if there's been any changes and what's your interest in pharmacy assets?

Speaker 3

Well, like we said before, Michelle, we are always on for acquisitions in food and pharmacy in Canada. And If an opportunity arises, we will take a close look.

Speaker 8

Okay. And is it fair to say on pharmacy assets, you would want to self distribute if

Speaker 1

call. That's our model.

Speaker 3

Yes, we would prefer. We'll see what the opportunities are.

Speaker 8

Thank you.

Speaker 1

Call.

Operator

Thank you. Next question will be from Michael Van Aelst at TD Cowen. Please go ahead.

Speaker 9

Expect these duplicate overhead costs and the inefficiencies to be highest in the first half of the year or second half of the year, like how would you expect that to go through the year? Call.

Speaker 2

Well, those kind of fees is gradual. You expect that call. Your learning curve by definition is a curve, so that the earlier part of the year will be tougher than the last part. Call. We're not going to give you a precise month by month, but that's you could assume a gradual improvement as we move along the Fiscal year, just like we had in Toronto.

Speaker 9

Okay. All right. And then It was asked before, but I just want to clarify a little bit here. The lot of these costs that you're calling out for fiscal 2024, call. They're one time in nature.

Speaker 9

They're temporary. So and the industry continues to progress as you expected. So call. Should investors be expecting an outsized growth in fiscal 2025 to make up for call. The short fall that you're seeing in growth in fiscal 'twenty four?

Speaker 3

Well, some of the expenses are going to be permanent. Appreciation, as Francois called out, is going to be with us for a long time. There's some one time. There's some cash. There's some non cash.

Speaker 3

There's some one time. There's some permanent. So it's a mix of all that. To say you're going to expect outsized return in 1 year, I don't think that would be fair or call. We expect to generate our returns on our investments over time.

Speaker 3

We're confident we're going to get there. Call. But some of these expenses are going to be with us and not just for 1 year. Some of them is one time, call.

Speaker 2

Although obviously the growth and depreciation in 2025 and beyond will be a lot lower than what we're showing in 2024. And so with the extra volume that we are call. We'll be able to absorb going forward. It's just that 1 year. That's why we call it a transition year.

Speaker 2

But after that, we will we're in a good position to absorb and drive the efficiencies and the margin improvements we discussed.

Speaker 9

Call. So when you talk about 8% to 10% getting back on to your 8% to 10% annual growth for EPS, if we look back call. 5 years from now. Are you saying you're expecting to have 8% to 10% CAGR call. In EPS over that 5 years?

Speaker 2

Yes.

Speaker 3

Okay.

Speaker 2

Yes. That's exactly what we're saying. All right.

Speaker 9

Call. So similar to historical, we're just going to see a drop this year and then you'll make up for it gradually in the following years as you get returns from these investments.

Speaker 2

Exactly. And as we said in the past, those targets doesn't mean that we hit them every single year. There are reasons why you like What we're talking today, where you make investments for the future. But if you take a period of time in medium to long term, we are confident that we can still achieve Those are targets.

Speaker 9

Yes. Well, you've done it historically on a pretty consistent basis. So call. Okay. And then finally on labor, we're clearly, you alluded to the significant wage increases from this labor call.

Speaker 9

It seems like both your OpEx and your competitor that also reported today had higher OpEx growth as well. Call. And I'm just wondering how much of that is coming from labor at this point? Like are we seeing were you already Seeing some meaningful increases in labor expense in your OpEx line this quarter?

Speaker 2

Yes. The OpEx, Some wage some salary wages increases are higher and we've we plan for that. I'm pleased with our performance. Our OpEx as a percentage of sales is the same as last year. And obviously, if you factor in the strike, it's our percentage of OpEx on sales is lower call than last year.

Speaker 2

So we're despite pressures from wages and other lines, so we're Yes, to your question, it's wage increase over there, but we've been able to absorb them.

Speaker 9

Okay. Your labor, your wages call. Are both in COGS and OpEx, correct?

Speaker 2

Yes.

Speaker 9

All right. Thanks very much.

Speaker 3

Call. Thank you.

Operator

Next question will be from Chris Lee at Desjardins. Please go ahead.

Speaker 10

Hi, good morning Eric and Francois. Just a couple of questions just on how to model for next year. Maybe Francois, just want to clarify the adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EPS That you're anchoring your financial outlook for fiscal 2024. I just want to confirm, is that Excluding the extra week and also excluding the strike impact?

Speaker 2

It's versus the reported figures for 23 as you see them on the P and

Speaker 10

call. Okay. So, okay, got you. As they reported. Okay, okay, that's helpful.

Speaker 10

And And then secondly, just in terms of just the classification of these one time costs, will we see them being reflected in a call. Most mix of both COGS and SG and A?

Speaker 2

Call? Well, some of it will come back when we do Chapter 3031, when we bring back some of the cost increases to the margin. When we bring some of these cost increases to margin, you'll see an impact on margin as well, but mostly

Speaker 10

OpEx. Call. Okay. That's helpful. And then Eric, I think you already answered this question with Mark, but I just wanted to touch base again.

Speaker 10

So I'm trying to wonder like if it weren't for all of these one time noise from the DC investments next year, do you think you would still be able to achieve 8% to 10% EPS growth in fiscal 2024. And I guess what I'm trying to understand is, I mean, does your outlook also incorporate some caution around the operating environment because as you said, there's some tough comps and there's call increasing promo penetration.

Speaker 3

No. Like I said to Mark, we feel very confident about Our KPIs and our operating performance in both of our markets, we're well positioned. Stores are in good shape. We have a good CapEx program. So I'm Confident that our performance in the market will be consistent with prior experience.

Speaker 3

So again, this call. Guidance has nothing to do with the operating performance, all to do with our supply chain program.

Speaker 10

Okay. Thanks for that. And then my last question, just maybe on the gross margin. I know the result obviously included the impact of the strike. Call.

Speaker 10

If we were to exclude that, is it fair to say your margin performance would have been somewhat similar to your performance in recent quarters in terms of the year over year, growth or comparison?

Speaker 3

Which margin? Gross margin. Gross margin.

Speaker 8

Sorry. Call.

Speaker 2

Well, the gross margin is down for a few factors. The strike obviously and call. The margin in food by itself is also declining as it has been over the previous quarters, combination of we're not passing on all the cost increases. Call. And there's also a shift to discounts.

Speaker 2

So that also has an impact. And you're also comparing to call. Gross margin level of last year, which was the highest of the year at 20.4 percent, the whole year was at an average of 20%. So call. You are comping you're comparing to a very high gross margin last year.

Speaker 2

So I think all these factors explain why the gross margin is where it is.

Operator

Call. And your next question will be from Mark Petrie at CIBC.

Speaker 6

Call. Yes, thanks. Just a quick follow-up. I just wanted to clarify for the new facility at Terabon, does it have automated fresh like what you're going to be putting call. And in Phase 2 in the GTA and yes, I guess that first.

Speaker 3

The answer is yes. Call. And it will be the pilot for Toronto whether we do next June. So When we say learning curve and ramping up, on the fresh side, there's going to be some of that going on in Tubman. So yes, it's not fully automated, but it's More than 75% automated for Fresh in that DC.

Speaker 6

Yes. Okay. And is it would you characterize the Automation in fresh is more difficult to execute or to ramp than automated and frozen?

Speaker 3

Call. Yes, it presents a few more challenges because it's a mix of conventional and automated picking. So call. It has more complications. We live through that for produce in Toronto.

Speaker 3

It will be More automated in Terban and it will be more operated in Toronto once we're done Phase 2 next summer. But as we ramp up, yes, there are more call. Challenges with on the fresh side than the freezer. They all have challenges, but it's a little more complicated with fresh because call. It's hybrid.

Speaker 6

Yes, understood. Okay, that's helpful. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. And at this time, we have no other is registered. Please proceed.

Speaker 1

Thank you all for your interest in Metro, and we will speak again soon to discuss our Q1 results on January 30. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, this does indeed conclude your conference call for today. Once again, thank you for attending. And at this time, we do ask that you please disconnect your lines.

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Earnings Conference Call
Metro Q4 2023
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