An ongoing strike at Metro Inc.’s produce distribution centre in Quebec is denting the company’s bottom line as the work stoppage enters its fifth month.
“Our third quarter was certainly challenging,” Metro chief executive Eric La Flèche, who retires from the top job next month, told analysts on an earnings call Wednesday.
The grocery and drugstore retailer reported its third-quarter profit fell to $211.3 million from $323 million a year earlier—a 35 percent plunge.
The strike at the Laval, Que., distribution centre began on March 30, with 550 unionized workers demanding better pay and working conditions. It’s the only produce distribution centre Metro has in Quebec and supplies more than 350 stores in the province, including Super C and Metro Plus. …