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Metro Inc. reported its Q3 2025 earnings, revealing a slight miss on EPS expectations. The company posted an adjusted EPS of $1.52, compared to the forecasted $1.53. Revenue reached $6.87 billion, falling short of the anticipated $6.91 billion. The stock reacted negatively, declining 3.03% in pre-market trading. According to InvestingPro analysis, Metro’s current valuation is near its Fair Value, with the company maintaining strong financial health scores and a market capitalization of $16.3 billion.
Key Takeaways
- Metro’s EPS of $1.52 slightly missed expectations by $0.01.
- Revenue increased 3.3% year-over-year but did not meet forecasts.
- Stock price dropped 3.03% following earnings release.
- Expanded delivery services and store network contributed to growth.
- Inflation and tariffs remain significant challenges.
Company Performance
Metro Inc. demonstrated solid year-over-year growth with total sales rising by 3.3% to $6.9 billion. The company continues to expand its market presence, opening new stores and enhancing delivery services. InvestingPro data shows Metro’s impressive 30-year track record of consecutive dividend increases, with a current dividend yield of 1.4%. Despite these advancements, Metro faces challenges from inflation and tariffs, which have affected its pricing strategy. The company maintains a strong return on invested capital of 9% and operates with moderate debt levels.
Financial Highlights
- Revenue: $6.9 billion, up 3.3% YoY
- Adjusted EPS: $1.52, up 12.6% YoY
- EBITDA: $656 million, up 5.7% YoY
- Gross margin: 19.8%, up from 19.6% last year
Earnings vs. Forecast
Metro’s Q3 2025 earnings per share of $1.52 fell short of the $1.53 forecast, marking a 0.65% miss. Revenue also missed expectations by 0.58%, coming in at $6.87 billion instead of the projected $6.91 billion. This performance contrasts with Metro’s historical trend of meeting or exceeding forecasts, suggesting potential headwinds.
Market Reaction
Following the earnings announcement, Metro’s stock declined by 3.03% in pre-market trading. This movement reflects investor concerns over the company’s ability to meet financial expectations amid ongoing inflationary pressures and tariff impacts. InvestingPro analysis reveals that Metro historically trades with low volatility, demonstrated by its beta of 0.28, making it a relatively stable investment. The stock has shown strong momentum with a 32.3% total return over the past year. For deeper insights into Metro’s valuation and growth prospects, investors can access comprehensive Pro Research Reports, available exclusively to InvestingPro subscribers.
Outlook & Guidance
Metro remains optimistic about future growth, with plans to continue investing in its retail networks and supply chain. The company aims to open six more stores in Q4 2025 and expects ongoing improvements in distribution efficiency. With a healthy current ratio of 1.42 and strong gross profit margins of 19.75%, Metro demonstrates solid operational efficiency. However, Metro is closely monitoring tariff-related price increases and their impact on consumer behavior. The company’s P/E ratio of 23.7 suggests investors are pricing in future growth expectations.
Executive Commentary
Eric LaFlesche, CEO of Metro Inc., expressed confidence in the company’s strategic direction: "We are confident that our sustained investments in our retail networks and supply chain combined with strong execution will continue to fuel our growth and create long-term shareholder value." He also highlighted the resilience of Metro’s conventional stores: "We’re pleased with our conventional stores, our Metro stores in both provinces are holding their own really well."
Risks and Challenges
- Inflationary pressures on commodity prices could impact profitability.
- Tariffs affecting approximately 3,000 SKUs may lead to higher costs.
- Competitive environment intensifying, challenging market share retention.
- Ongoing supply chain optimization efforts are crucial for efficiency.
- Consumer behavior shifts due to economic conditions could affect sales.
Q&A
During the earnings call, analysts inquired about the competitive intensity and the impact of tariffs on pricing. They also explored Metro’s online sales strategy and delivery partnerships, as well as the performance of new distribution centers. The potential effects of the GLP-1 drug market and generic impacts were also discussed.
Full transcript - Metro Inc. (MRU) Q3 2025:
Conference Operator: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Metro Inc. Twenty twenty five Third Quarter Results Conference Call. At this time, note that all participant lines are in a listen only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. Also note that this call is being recorded on Wednesday, 08/13/2025.
And I would like to turn the conference over to Sharon Kadosh, Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Finance. Please go ahead.
Sharon Kadosh, Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Finance, Metro Inc.: Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Our comments will focus on the financial results of our third quarter, which ended on July 5. With me today is Mr. Eric LaFlesche, President and CEO Nicolas Amillot, Executive VP and CFO Marc Giroux, Chief Operating Officer and Jean Michel Couture, President of the Pharmacy Division. During the call, we will present our third quarter results and comment on its highlights.
We’ll 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. The forward looking statements are based upon certain assumptions regarding the Canadian food and pharmaceutical industries, the general economy, our annual budget and our 2025 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 2024 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. I will now turn the call over to Nicolas.
Nicolas Amillot, Executive VP and CFO, Metro Inc.: Okay. Thank you, Sharon, and good morning, everyone. I will now go over our Q3 results. Total sales reached $6,900,000,000 an increase of 3.3% versus the third quarter last year. Food same store sales grew by 1.9% in the quarter, while pharmacy same store sales grew by 5.5% supported by a 6.2% growth in prescription sales and a 4% growth in front end sales.
Our gross margin stood at 19.8% of sales versus 19.6% in the same quarter last year. The year over year increase is partly attributable to productivity gains in our food distribution centers as well as shrink improvement in food retail activities. Operating expenses were $7.00 $2,000,000 representing 10.2% of sales, a similar level to our third quarter last year. We benefited from the fact that we cycled transition duplicate costs last year related to our Terbun automated distribution center, but these benefits were offset by inflationary pressures, operational expenses related to our Fresh Phase II DC in Toronto, as well as an increase in fees related to the growth of our online partnership sales. EBITDA for the quarter totaled $656,000,000 up 5.7% year over year, while EBITDA as a percentage of sales stood at 9.5% this quarter, an increase of 20 basis points over Q3 twenty twenty four.
Total depreciation and amortization expense for the quarter was $185,000,000 up 11,000,000 The increase in depreciation and amortization expense is mainly driven by retail investments as well as by the commissioning of investments in our supply chain, including the final phase of our fresh distribution center in Toronto last summer and some automation technology in the pharmacy division. Net financial costs for the third quarter were $45,000,000 compared to $47,000,000 last year. The decrease is mainly attributable to a lower interest expense on net debt, partly offset by lower capitalized interest. Our effective tax rate of 24.1% is lower than the effective tax rate of 25.9% in the third quarter last year, largely driven by the Turbine tax holiday consistent with what we have reported in our first two quarters this year. Adjusted net earnings were $332,000,000 compared to $3.00 $5,000,000 last year, an increase of 8.8%, while adjusted net earnings per share amounted to $1.52 versus $1.35 last year, and that’s up 12.6% year over year.
Our capital expenditures for the third quarter totaled $146,000,000 down $41,000,000 versus last year. As expected, the lower CapEx level is mainly the result of the completion of our automated distribution centers. On the food retail side, after forty weeks, we opened eight new stores, including three conversions and carried out major expansions and renovations at 12 stores for a net increase of 194,000 square feet or 0.9% of our food retail network square footage. Under our normal course issuer bid program, as of August 1, we have repurchased 5,700,000.0 shares for a total consideration of $562,000,000 representing an average share price of $98.55 To conclude, we have delivered solid Q3 results and I will now turn it over to Eric for more color on our performance. Thank you.
Sharon Kadosh, Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Finance, Metro Inc.: Thank you, Nicolas, and good morning everyone. We are pleased with our results in the third quarter as our teams continue to deliver on our customer promises, in particular good value with competitive everyday prices, effective promotional strategies, our full range of private label products and our loyalty program. For the quarter, total sales grew by 3.3%, EBITDA by 5.7% and adjusted EPS by 12.6%. Starting with food, same store sales were up 1.94.4% over two years. Discount continues to drive same store sales growth faster than Metro with the gap between both remaining stable.
Our internal food inflationbasket inflation was in line with the reported food CPI of 3.1%. We continue to see inflationary pressures on certain commodity prices, namely in the meat category. The introduced tariffs and counter tariffs are also a contributing factor to food inflation as we continue to receive price increase requests from our vendor partners. Teams continue to negotiate to minimize the impact on consumers and for now the effect remains manageable. During the quarter, transaction count was slightly down but offset by an increase in the average basket.
Promotional penetration remains at elevated levels and private label sales continue to outperform national brands. The competitive environment intensified somewhat in the quarter and we held our own in terms of market share and tonnage. The Buy Canada movement is also persisting with sales of Canadian products outpacing total sales, albeit at a slower pace. Online sales grew by 14% for the quarter. Growth is being driven by the ramp up of click and collect services and also the launch of home delivery at Super C and Food Basics, as well as third party marketplaces.
Also, announced in mid July the expansion of third party delivery services to include DoorDash in Quebec and Ontario. This is in addition to Instacart and Uber with whom we’ve been operating for a few years now. Turning to pharmacy, the business sustained its positive momentum and delivered another strong quarter with comp sales of 5.5% for a two year stack of 11%. Prescription sales were up 6.2% driven by continued organic growth, specialty medications, GLP-1s and clinical services. Commercial sales were up 4%.
The strong performance was driven by growth in OTC, HABA and cosmetics. As Nikola mentioned, we are on track with our plan to accelerate the development of our growing discount banners as we successfully opened five new stores in the quarter. In our fourth quarter, we plan on opening another six stores including two conversions, bringing the total to 14 in fiscal twenty twenty five. A new Adonis store will open in London tomorrow, our fifth Adonis in Ontario. As we begin our fourth quarter, we continue to see similar market trends and our teams continue to focus on delivering the best value possible to our customers in this uncertain economic environment.
Finally, we are confident that our sustained investments in our retail networks and supply chain combined with strong execution will continue to fuel our growth and create long term shareholder value. Thank you and we’ll now be happy to take your questions.
Conference Operator: And your first question will be from Mark Carden at UBS. Please go ahead, Mark.
Mark Carden, Analyst, UBS: Good morning, and thanks for taking our questions. So strong performance, but a notable step down from last quarter. I was wondering if you could detail your comp performance within the quarter, how that trended and then any early read on how 4Q is looking? Thanks.
Sharon Kadosh, Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Finance, Metro Inc.: Well, think we had a strong quarter and I don’t agree that we’ve had a notable step down, certainly not in our sales top line and bottom line and EPS growth and we’re pleased with our performance. If you’re referring to the slightly lower same store sales growth on the food side, I think you have to look at it over two years. I think comp sales are a function of what you’re comping. We’ve had steady and strong comps for many, many quarters. We had good comps this quarter.
Yes, it was a bit softer than the previous quarter, but if you look at it on a three year basis, we’re pleased with our performance.
Mark Carden, Analyst, UBS: Great, and just as a follow-up, I’m curious what your view is on the consumer. Has anything changed in their shopping habits over the last quarter? Any more trade down happening within categories?
Sharon Kadosh, Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Finance, Metro Inc.: I wouldn’t say there’s more trading down, the search for value has been ongoing for over a couple of years now or more, so it’s the same trends, I referred to it in my opening comments, people are searching for value, promotional levels are high, private label sales are high, so we’re seeing pretty much the same picture on the consumer side. Some meat prices have, there’s a strong inflation in the meat category, so we’re seeing some adjustments, so call it maybe some trading down or higher promotional penetration in the meat category because our costs have gone up substantially on the meat side and some retail prices are reflecting that. What I would say.
Mark Carden, Analyst, UBS: Great. Thanks so much.
Conference Operator: Next question will be from Tammy Chen at BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead,
Tammy Chen, Analyst, BMO Capital Markets: Hi, good morning. Thanks for the question. Eric, could you elaborate a bit more on your comment that you saw the competitive environment intensify somewhat in the quarter? Is this both your region provinces in the country? Is it coming from a certain few competitors or pretty broad?
And I assume you’re talking about not just promo penetration, but specifically promotional intensity. And is this a fairly meaningful step up in that?
Sharon Kadosh, Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Finance, Metro Inc.: I don’t want to spook anybody. We are operating in a competitive environment. It’s always competitive. We noticed a bit of an uptick in promotional activity, openings of new stores, conversions, so there’s been quite a bit of activity in the market out there in Q3, so that intensifies competition. So I think it’s normal or it’s expected, I should say.
We operate in a competitive environment. I think prices are rational, but it did intensify a bit in Q3. That’s what I’d like to say. Is that clear, Tammy? Don’t know if that answers your question.
We’re not identifying anybody, it’s just that at large we noticed an uptick in the competitive intensity, promotional pricing due to market conditions. So it intensified somewhat a little bit in Q3.
Tammy Chen, Analyst, BMO Capital Markets: Yeah, see what you mean. And are you able to talk a bit about your conventional banner? So, I noticed you said, yes, discount is still driving the comp. How’s your conventional banners doing in your two regions? I think in Quebec, you picked up some share, but I’m curious how it’s doing in Ontario because I think there are some competitors that have been fairly aggressive rolling out this new discount square footage, particularly in Ontario.
Thank you.
Sharon Kadosh, Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Finance, Metro Inc.: So we’re pleased with our conventional stores, our Metro stores in both provinces are holding their own really well versus their conventional peers as measured by Nielsen GDM Conventional. We’re pleased with our performance in both markets. We’re holding our own. Clearly there’s been more growth in discounts than in conventional over the past few years that is continuing albeit at a slower pace, but it’s still continuing. So overall, I’m not saying our conventional stores are gaining market share, but relative to the competitive set of conventional stores, we’re holding our own and pleased with our performance.
Tammy Chen, Analyst, BMO Capital Markets: Okay, thank you. That’s it for me.
Conference Operator: Thank you. Next question will be from Irene Nattel at RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead,
Irene Nattel, Analyst, RBC Capital Markets: Thanks and good morning everyone. Just switching gears a little bit, you noted Eric in your commentary that you’re starting to that you’re getting, more price increase requests from vendors that are tariff related. Can you just talk a little bit about that, what the magnitude of price increases are, efforts to offset and the like? Thank you.
Sharon Kadosh, Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Finance, Metro Inc.: Yeah, so the number of price requests is similar. We’re still in the normal environment, but those related to tariffs, they represent about 20% of the increases demands that we’re receiving from vendors. There’s about 3,000 SKUs right now that are affected by tariffs, that we’ve received increases and accepted increases related to tariffs. So we negotiate hard and it has to be with the code number and it has to be proven and all of that. We’re talking about high single digits percentage or the asks.
We don’t necessarily finish there but we negotiate as best we can to minimize the impact on our consumers in this environment where everybody’s searching for value and everybody’s more price sensitive. So we’re working hard with our vendors to minimize that impact. The counter tariffs started in March, some suppliers waited to impose cost increases on us, but some of those have now started to flow in. On the HABA side, one large US CPG company, we’ve started to see some price increases that we’ve had to take in this month in August. So we’re seeing some of that.
But like I said in my opening statement, it’s manageable. We’re still in line with CPI. CPI is around 3%. We’d like it to be 2%, but we’re at 3% these days.
Irene Nattel, Analyst, RBC Capital Markets: Thanks, Eric. In those categories where you are seeing the price increases, are you seeing an acceleration in let’s say, trade down to private label to the extent that it exists in those categories and increased penetration? Are you seeing consumers just kind of say, yeah, we’re just going to switch out of these products, if possible.
Sharon Kadosh, Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Finance, Metro Inc.: I don’t have a specific example for you, but I think those increases contribute to the rise or the growth in sales for private label. It’s a contributing factor, not the only one, but it certainly helps. The price increases related to tariffs that I just referred to have just on the Haba side are very recent, so I can’t really point to a change in consumer behaviour there. On the food side, what we’ve seen since March, those products that have been affected, like we said before, we search for other suppliers in other countries just to minimize prices and maintain quality. So the consumer, we’ve been able to navigate and to provide value to our customers despite these tariffs, that’s why I said it’s been manageable.
So hopefully it’ll stay that way.
Irene Nattel, Analyst, RBC Capital Markets: That’s great, thanks Eric.
Sharon Kadosh, Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Finance, Metro Inc.: Thanks.
Conference Operator: Next question will be from Michael Van Elst at TD Cowen. Please go ahead, Michael.
Mark Carden, Analyst, UBS: Yes. Thank you. Just to to start off, can I clarify on the same store sales growth, you’re talking about to your stack, are you looking at it that way because of your you you benefited in May when there was a boycott on a competitor and therefore, you know, had a bit bigger boost last year and you’re cycling that now? And if so, did you see your same store sales growth reaccelerate in June after you cycled the May boycott?
Sharon Kadosh, Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Finance, Metro Inc.: Well, quote unquote boycott may have helped us a little bit last year, so we had to comp that. That’s one of the reasons I referred to the two year number to give you a better picture. We’re not going to give you details on our sales. We don’t give guidance on our sales in June, July or August, whatever. The quarter ended early July.
So it’s pretty much behind us now.
Michael Van Elst, Analyst, TD Cowen: All
Mark Carden, Analyst, UBS: right, and then on the distribution centers that have opened, can you provide some color as to how they performed during Q3 in terms of pick efficiencies and services stores and how that is different heading into Q4?
Sharon Kadosh, Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Finance, Metro Inc.: Well, our food DCs in Tatban and Toronto Fresh Phase II, we’re very pleased with our performance. If I look at cost per case productivity numbers, we’re very pleased with the performance. It did contribute to our gross margin improvement of 20 basis points, those productivity gains. So we’re pleased with the performance. We’re on track, pretty much on track with or ahead of our plan related to our DC performance.
So that performance of Q3 is continuing into Q4. So I’m not really concerned by that. It’s hard work, but ramping up well. I don’t know if that answers your question.
Mark Carden, Analyst, UBS: Well, because your outlook statement changed a bit, so you had talked about productivity initiatives or efficiencies and then you talked about service to the stores and it seems like you took out the part of this quarter where you’re saying you’re looking to improve service to the stores. So I’m wondering
Sharon Kadosh, Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Finance, Metro Inc.: if We took that’s out something because took it the transition is over and our service to our stores is very good. So we’re not concerned by that. It’s done. So we’re focused on productivity, efficiency gains. The service of the stores is satisfactory and we’re pleased with that performance.
We’re always focused on service to our stores, but it’s not a specific focus going forward.
Mark Carden, Analyst, UBS: Okay, and I know there’s no kind of finish line, but when do you how how much longer do you expect it to be before you get, you know, a run rate of of efficiencies in the DCs that that is, you know, in line with business line or or at least in line with what you now expect?
Sharon Kadosh, Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Finance, Metro Inc.: Well, I think we’re there now. We’re in line with our business plans. Both freezers in Quebec and Ontario were ahead of plan and very pleased with the performance and productivity. The automated fresh in Toronto is a bit more of a challenge. Supply chain has to adjust, the packaging from our vendors has to adjust to be automatable.
So we’d a higher percentage of cases to go through the automation system. We’re close to where we want to be, but we’re not there yet. So there’s room to improve on the fresh side. It may take a little more time, as I said, the supply chain adjusts. The rest, fresh meat, frozen meat in both provinces, Delhi, dairy we’re very pleased with our performance.
Mark Carden, Analyst, UBS: Great, thank you very much.
Conference Operator: Thank you. Next question will be from Ian Lu at Scotiabank. Please go ahead, Ian.
Ian Lu, Analyst, Scotiabank: Thank you and good morning. I wanted to ask about GLP-1s, in particular Ozempic and Wegovy. Can you talk about the state of Kutuz product business and how you expect the expiry of those weight loss drugs patent is expected to impact your generics business and how these transitions have played out historically?
Sharon Kadosh, Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Finance, Metro Inc.: I’ll let Jean Michel take this one.
Mark Carden, Analyst, UBS: Yep. So can you hear me?
Sharon Kadosh, Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Finance, Metro Inc.: Can you hear him well? Yes.
Jean Michel Couture, President of Pharmacy Division, Metro Inc.: Yep. So right now it’s maybe just clarify one thing. The only patent that’s being challenged is for Ozempic. WIGOV, which is the one that actually has the indication for weight loss is not going to be challenged in terms of its patent since it’s fairly new in Canada. It’s too early to tell how it’s going to happen with Health Canada in terms of approval.
We know that there are some companies that have submitted to have those patents broken. Obviously, if that’s the case, we’re going to work with our vendor community and our partners to try to get a product equivalent as we always do with every generic molecule that has sufficient volume. Usually the way it works is when a molecule becomes generic, the networks convert as quickly as the pharmacists convert as quickly as they can because it is margin accretive for them within their stores. And when we talk about margin here, it’s really professional allowances, which they have to reinvest in their stores according to the law in Quebec. So it is margin, but it’s margin that needs to be guided towards certain expenses within their stores.
So I hope that answers a little bit of your question.
Ian Lu, Analyst, Scotiabank: Yeah, that’s helpful, thank you.
Sharon Kadosh, Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Finance, Metro Inc.: And just to compliment on that, for the company here as a distributor, if those drugs become generic, we will make a distribution fee on the generic lower price, so there could be a dilutive impact here for that. But volume usually picks up the slack.
Ian Lu, Analyst, Scotiabank: Yep. Thank you. And then I guess just another follow-up. I wanted to double click on the performance between your two provinces. I’m wondering in particular about the exposure to certain Ontario markets that are perhaps more impacted by the tariff environment.
Have you noticed any consumer behavior changes there?
Sharon Kadosh, Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Finance, Metro Inc.: Not that we can point out more specifically. What we’re describing as the consumer environment, competitive environment concerns both of our markets.
Ian Lu, Analyst, Scotiabank: Thank you.
Conference Operator: Thank you. Next question will be from Mark Petrie at CIBC. Please go ahead, Mark.
Michael Van Elst, Analyst, TD Cowen: Yeah, thanks. Good morning. I wanted to just ask about the SG and A rate. Maybe if you can give some more specifics about sort of the puts and takes there. And then, Eric, you’ve commented fresh phase two, but hoping you could give some sense of when you would expect that to that facility to turn to a tailwind when it comes to SG and A.
Thank you.
Nicolas Amillot, Executive VP and CFO, Metro Inc.: Good morning, Mark. Maybe I start with SG and A. As I’ve mentioned, SG and A was at 10.2% of sales this quarter similar to last quarter. I mentioned we cycled out transition costs, so obviously that was a tailwind for us. However, there’s overall inflation in pretty much all the categories of expenses that flow into SG and A.
And we’re happy with the cost control performance we’ve had, but we have seen SG and A inflation pressures there for sure. Also the commissioning of our distribution center Fresh Phase II in Toronto last summer is now driving recurring expenses that are now in SG and A and that we are going to be incorporated going forward. And finally, would say, as I mentioned, that the ongoing growth of the e commerce business is driving fees to our partners in SG and A and I guess nothing abnormal, but consistent with the growth in e commerce sales. So overall, I would say happy with the performance on SG and A.
Sharon Kadosh, Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Finance, Metro Inc.: And more specific to Fresh Phase II, like I said, we’re on plan, we’re on track with the ramp up that we expected. I said automation, if we could automate even if we can put through more products through the automation machine, it would be even better. Again, that takes time because it’s a supply chain, it’s a vendor adjustment. It’s generally a tailwind. We’re pleased with the performance, we’re reaching our objectives and there’s going to be room for more as the industry adjusts.
I don’t know how I give you a clearer answer.
Michael Van Elst, Analyst, TD Cowen: Okay, fair enough. Specific to the online growth, is it fair to say that a lot of that growth is being driven by short time frame delivery, third party orders and I guess, you know, what’s your latest thinking about your infrastructure and processes? I know that’s been sort of a source of, constant review, but any view to any alterations in that over the next twelve to eighteen months?
Mark Giroux, Chief Operating Officer, Metro Inc.: Good morning, It’s Mark here. As you know, we’ve gone to market with a multi service model, meaning that we leverage third party, we leverage click and collect in our own infrastructure and we do our own delivery. And to your first question, the growth on our own delivery has been at the same level as third party. So consumers, there’s a mix of need in market. Consumers are looking for quick delivery, but also planned delivery and click and collect.
And all of these services have been growing at steady rate. And as we look at the future of our platform, we will continue to go to market with multiple types of investment or platform through third party marketplaces, Click and Collect and our own delivery. And as you noticed in our comments, we just signed a new partnership with DoorDash, giving us a new channel to market through the DoorDash marketplace. So we’re continuing in the same line as our strategy over the last few years.
Michael Van Elst, Analyst, TD Cowen: Okay. Thanks for that. And and one last one. As you look within q three and then in q four to date, when and you think about by the by Canadian trends, would you say that that trend is stable, accelerating or decelerating?
Mark Giroux, Chief Operating Officer, Metro Inc.: It’s decelerating somewhat. Consumers are still buying more Canadians, so we’re seeing more growth in Canadian product than non Canadian product, but it has decelerated slightly.
Michael Van Elst, Analyst, TD Cowen: Okay. Thanks for that. All the best. Thanks.
Conference Operator: And your next question will be from Vishal Shreedhar at National Bank. Please go ahead, Vishal.
Sharon Kadosh, Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Finance, Metro Inc.0: Hi. This is Anshul in for Vishal Shreedhar. I wanted to follow-up on your duplicate costs related to the new TCs. From your last conference call, was it fair to say that you lapped the duplicate costs in Q2 and Q3 last year? And is it fair to expect SG and A leverage going forward, notwithstanding heightened third party partnership fees?
Nicolas Amillot, Executive VP and CFO, Metro Inc.: So I would say that so as you’ve mentioned, we lapped duplicate costs in the third quarter this quarter, Q2 last year. Going forward, we would not have that lapse. So I think SG and A, we’re always looking to create leverage and grew SG and A at a lower pace than revenue growth. So I think I would, yes, expect modest leverage in the coming quarters for SG and A.
Sharon Kadosh, Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Finance, Metro Inc.0: Understood. Thank you.
Conference Operator: Thank you. And at this time, it appears we have no other questions registered. So I will turn the call back over to Sharon Kadosh.
Sharon Kadosh, Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Finance, Metro Inc.: Thank you all for your interest in Metro, and please mark your calendars for our Q4 results on November 19. Thank you.
Conference Operator: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this does indeed conclude your conference call for today. Once again, thank you for attending. And at this time, we ask that you please disconnect your lines. Have a good day.
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