A Shoppers Drug Mart location in Toronto.Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail
Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. is reporting stable profit, slightly higher revenue and a bigger dividend for its shareholders.
Canada's largest pharmacy retailer says its net income was $175-million in the fourth quarter, or 85 cents per share.
The total was down slightly from $176-million in the year earlier period but up on a per-share basis, rising three cents to 85 cents as a result the company's stock buyback program.
During the fourth quarter, it bought more than 1.6 million of its common shares at a total cost of $68-million – or $41.66 each, on average.
Shoppers is also raising its quarterly dividend by 7.5 per cent to 28.5 cents per share, beginning with the next payment in April.
Its revenue was up 4.4 per cent from a year earlier to $2.72-billion, based on higher pharmacy volumes and market share gains in other goods.