Quebec alcohol sales hit CA$4bn
The Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) reported net income of CA$1.401 billion (US$1.02bn) for the year ending 29 March.
The figure represents a 1.9% decrease on the previous year.
Sales totalled CA$4.042bn (US$2.96bn), a 1.4% fall, while volume sales fell by 3% to 216.4 million litres.
It added it will ‘continue deploying initiatives to deal with market conditions and the trend toward lower volumes’.
Sales in the SAQ’s store and specialised centre network fell by 2.4% on the previous year, with volume sales dropping by 4.6%. The SAQ said the drop in volumes, experienced during the past two years, is due to ‘changes in customers’ shopping habits’.
Online sales were up by 2.6% from the preceding fiscal year, reaching CA$107.3m (US$78.5m). This represented 3.6% of consumer sales.
The value of the average shopping cart increased by 0.3%, going from CA$63.13 to CA$63.35 (US$46.16-US$46.32).
The average per-litre price also rose by 1.6% to CA$22.03 (US$16.11).
Sales in the wholesale grocer network totalled CA$359.9m (US$263), a 9.7% increase.
Volumes equalled 37.6m litres, a rise of 5.9%.
The SAQ acts as a wholesaler to the Quebec grocery and convenience store network, therefore these sales figures do not necessarily correspond to the sales made by these establishments to consumers.
Spirits volumes in Canada’s on-trade fell by 1.9% last year, driven by whisky and vodka, but the category fared better than beer.
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