Canadian Tire raises its dividend as quarterly profit and comparable sales grow
The annual dividend rises to C$7.30 a share. Reported earnings increased to C$4.27 a share, with a smaller gain on a normalized basis.
Canadian Tire raised its annual dividend to C$7.30 a share from C$7.20 after reporting higher third-quarter earnings and retail sales. The quarterly payment rises to C$1.825 a share from C$1.80, marking the company's 17th consecutive year of dividend increases.
Net income attributable to shareholders was C$219.6 million, or C$4.27 per diluted share, compared with C$169.1 million, or C$3.13 a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose to C$4.32 billion from C$4.11 billion.
Normalized diluted earnings were also C$4.27 a share, versus C$3.78 a year earlier. The 13% normalized increase is smaller than the 36.4% rise in reported continuing-operations earnings per share, so the two comparisons should not be treated as interchangeable.
Retail comparable sales rose 3.2%, including gains of 3.2% at Canadian Tire and SportChek and 3.3% at Mark's.
