George Weston Limited: Reports Q1-2020 Results

Toronto / CA. (gwl) George Weston Limited (GWL) announced its consolidated unaudited results for the 12 weeks ended March 21, 2020. GWL’s 2020 First Quarter Report has been filed on SEDAR and is available at sedar.com and in the Investor Centre section of the Company’s website at weston.ca.

«I am proud of our teams who have kept essential supermarkets and pharmacies open, bakery shelves stocked, and hundreds of properties safe and secure,» said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Galen G. Weston. «We continue to make meaningful and necessary investments to ensure the well-being of our customers, colleagues, and tenants during these uncertain times. Looking ahead, each of our businesses is set to deliver long-term value creation from a position of operational strength and with a solid financial foundation when we transition to a new post-pandemic reality.»

GWL’s group of companies performed well in the first quarter and responded quickly to the dramatic onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Beginning in mid-March, the pandemic began to affect our people, our operations and our communities. In our retail and consumer goods businesses, sales of essential items initially surged in response to stockpiling. At the same time, sales of non-essential goods and services declined, and governments ordered mandatory closures of non-essential businesses, negatively impacting the financial health of affected tenants. Recognizing the important role our group of companies plays in helping individuals and businesses meet the challenges of the pandemic, investments by the businesses ramped up to protect and support colleagues, customers and tenants. Following the initial surge in sales at the end of March in our retail and consumer goods businesses, demand has moderated. The response by each of our businesses and costs related to Covid-19 have continued in the second quarter.

2020 First Quarter Highlights

Net earnings available to common shareholders of the Company were USD 582 million (USD 3.78 per common share), an increase of USD 1,070 million (USD 6.96 per common share) compared to the same period in 2019. The increase was due to an improvement of USD 38 million (USD 0.25 per common share) in the underlying operating performance of the Company and the favourable year-over-year net impact of adjusting items totaling USD 1,032 million (USD 6.71 per common share), which was primarily due to the favourable year-over-year impact of the fair value adjustment of the Trust Unit liability of USD 1,086 million (USD 7.07 per common share).

Adjusted net earnings available to common shareholders of the Company(1) were USD 239 million (USD 1.55 per common share). In comparison to the same period in 2019, this represented an increase of USD 38 million (USD 0.25 per common share), or 18.9 percent, due to the improvement in underlying operating performance of the Company and the positive contribution from the year-over-year increase in the Company’s ownership interest in Loblaw Companies Limited, as a result of Loblaw share repurchases, partially offset by higher net interest expense and other financing charges.

First quarter financial results reflect an estimated increase in revenue of approximately USD 753 million and net earnings available to common shareholders of USD 29 million (USD 0.19 per common share) primarily related to the significant increase in initial demand for grocery and pharmacy products at Loblaw in March following the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in Canada.

For additional information please read the Company’s PDF file below (162 KB):

20200507-GWL-Q1-2020.