George Weston (WN) Q4 2023 earnings summary

Executive summary

• Full-year revenue exceeded $60B; adjusted EBITDA rose 6.1% to $6.953B and corporate free cash flow increased 43.7% to $1.283B.

• Operating businesses delivered stronger Q4 results, while adjusted net earnings available to common shareholders declined 7.3% to $342M, largely due to corporate-level items.

Financial highlights

• Q4 revenue was $14.700B, up 3.9%; adjusted EBITDA was $1.694B, up 6.5%.

• Q4 continuing-operations net loss available to common shareholders was $38M, versus a $114M loss; adjusted diluted EPS was $2.51, down 3.1%.

• FY revenue was $60.124B, up 5.4%; adjusted EBITDA was $6.953B, up 6.1%; adjusted net earnings were $1.467B, up 2.4%.

• FY continuing-operations net earnings available to common shareholders were $1.496B, down 15.9%; adjusted diluted EPS was $10.54, up 7.4%.

Outlook and guidance

• 2024 adjusted net earnings are expected to increase, and excess cash is expected to fund share repurchases.

• Loblaw targets high-single-digit adjusted EPS growth, retail earnings growth faster than sales, and $1.8B net capital spending, including ~$2.2B gross investment less ~$400M property-sale proceeds.

• Loblaw expects to allocate a significant portion of free cash flow to repurchases and continue investing in stores and distribution centres.

• Choice Properties targets 2.5%–3.0% YoY same-asset NOI growth, annual diluted FFO per unit of $1.02–$1.03, and adjusted debt to EBITDAFV slightly below 7.5x.