The Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) posted net income on Wednesday down 7.5% for its first quarter, while its sales decreased by 1.2% compared to the same period last year.
The Crown corporation posted net income of $301.3 million during the quarter ended June 17, which compared to a surplus of $325.6 million for the same quarter a year earlier.
The SAQ’s revenues amounted to $902.5 million in the most recent quarter, compared to the turnover of $913.1 million for the previous first quarter. Expressed in volume, these sales reached 50.3 million liters, compared to 53.7 million liters last year — a drop of 6.3%.
These sales stood at 43.1 million liters in the network of branches and specialized centers, a decrease of 1 million liters or 2.3%. At wholesale grocers, sales peaked at 7.2 million litres, which corresponds to a decrease of 2.4 million liters or 25%.
The SAQ underlines in a press release that the drop in sales with the wholesale grocer network is notably attributable to the high level of orders during the last two quarters of the previous fiscal year.
Furthermore, the value of the average shopping basket for consumers in stores decreased to $62.51 in the first quarter, down 4.4% compared to $65.40 a year earlier.
Consumption habits also continue to evolve. Customers are visiting stores more, as evidenced by traffic growth of 4.9%, making lower value purchases, while online sales are down 5.9%, compared to in the first quarter of the previous financial year.
The average selling price per liter increased to $20.90 in the first quarter, compared to $20.36 for the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal year.
The SAQ’s net expenses fell by 1.3% in the first quarter, but their ratio based on sales was stable at 14.7%.
Finally, sales of Quebec products totaled $131.5 million in the first quarter, or 15.7% of sales in the branch network and specialized centers. This is an increase of 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. The sale of Quebec products at the SAQ has therefore continued to increase for several years.
If the sale of wines — which represents two-thirds of the products sold at the SAQ — is down 2.2%, that of ready-to-drink products increased by 6.2% in the first quarter, compared to the year. last.