(Montreal) The Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) posted sales up 6.8% on Monday for its third quarter ended on 1er January, which it attributed in particular to the easing of sanitary measures before the arrival of the wave of contamination of the Omicron variant.
Posted at 1:13 p.m.
The state corporation’s net income was $495.7 million, up 8.1% from $458.6 million for the same period a year earlier.
Revenue fell from 1.267 billion in the third quarter last year to 1.354 billion in the most recent quarter. Expressed in volume, however, sales recorded less significant growth, of 1.2%, to 75.8 million litres.
Sales in branches and specialized centers rose 10.1% and those in the restaurant and bar sector, which was gradually reopening, rose 7.5%.
Online sales were down 6.2% in the third quarter from a year ago, and accounted for just 3.4% of consumer sales.
The SAQ’s net expenses — ie selling and marketing, distribution and administrative expenses, from which advertising, promotional and miscellaneous revenues were subtracted — climbed 1.6% to $179.7 million. However, when expressed as a percentage of sales, they showed a ratio of 13.3%, compared to 14.0% in the same period last year.
Ever more popular coolers
Wines still represent the largest part of the SAQ’s sales. Their sales rose 5.1% in the most recent quarter, to 950 million, while those of spirits gained 9.8% to 338.9 million.
The consumer craze for coolers, commonly known as coolerscontinued to show up, boosting their sales by 44.8% to 23.6 million last quarter, compared to the same period a year earlier.
Finally, sales in the beer, cider and complementary products category fell by 2.4% to 8.2 million.
The management of the SAQ said it was “satisfied” with the results for the third quarter. “Despite the fact that uncertainties remain regarding the evolution of the COVID-19 crisis, the management of the SAQ is confident of achieving net income slightly above the objectives,” the company specified in its interim financial report.