Focus groups suggest “we really did let them down” but there's still loyalty to Safeway in the West that can be recaptured, Michael Medline told analysts. It was his first conference call since becoming the head of Canada's second-largest grocery chain, which also owns Sobeys. The former Canadian Tire executive said investors would likely only see incremental improvements in the company's fiscal fourth quarter. Excluding the writedowns, however, Empire's earnings in this year's third quarter fell by 58 per cent to $34.6 million. Based in Stellarton, N.S., Empire had $30.5 million of net income for the 13 weeks ended Feb. 4, or 11 cents per share under generally accepted accounting principles.

Source: thestar March 15, 2017 18:00 UTC