(Reuters) -Canadian retailer Loblaw Companies Ltd on Wednesday reported first-quarter sales rose 6%, helped by strong demand for essential goods including groceries and drugs.
Retailers industry-wide have lately been relying on sales of essential goods including groceries, frozen protein and drugs as inflation-hit consumers prioritize spending on everyday needs.
Drug retail sales, however, were led by Loblaw’s higher-margin beauty and cough and cold products, the company said.
Loblaw warned that the cost of materials in its food segment continued to increase faster than the price hikes taken by the retailer to shield its margins.
Net income attributable to the company fell to C$418 million ($306.83 million), or C$1.29 per share, in the first quarter from C$437 million, or $1.30 per share, a year earlier. Loblaw’s first-quarter revenue rose to C$13 billion from C$12.26 billion a year earlier.
The Brampton, Ontario-based retail chain maintained its annual profit forecast to low double-digit growth.
($1 = 1.3623 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by Anne Florentyna Gnanaraja Sekar in BengaluruEditing by Vinay Dwivedi)