Empire Co. Ltd.

reported a net loss of $385 million or $1.68 per share in the third quarter, a 371 per cent drop from the $146 million in earnings (or $0.62 per share) last year. The company attributed the loss mainly to the closure of its

e-commerce banner

Voilà in western Canada.

On an adjusted basis, Empire recorded

net earnings of $164 million

or $0.72 per share in the quarter, up 12.3 per cent compared to $146 million or $0.62 per share last year.

On Thursday, the

parent company of Sobeys

released its financial results for the quarter ended Jan. 31, reporting a sales increase of 2.1 per cent to $7.890 billion. Its

food sales

went up by three per cent, with a two per cent increase in same-store sales growth.

The retailer made changes to its e-commerce business

—

including an immediate wind-down and closure of its Alberta e-commerce facilities, announced in late January

—

and continued to pause the development of its customer fulfillment centre in the Vancouver area.

“During this quarter, we reassessed expected performance across our Voilà network and announced action to improve near-term earnings and increase customer choice,” chief executive Pierre St-Laurent said during the earnings call.

Empire said it will expand its third-party

delivery partnerships

through a new collaboration with DoorDash.

More to come…

• Email: dpaglinawan@postmedia.com

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