By Adriano Marchese
George Weston Ltd. reported a swing to a loss in its fourth quarter Wednesday after its real estate business booked a large fair value adjustment for the period.
The Toronto-based holding company, which is made up of the Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust and Canadian supermarket retailer Loblaw Cos. Ltd., reported…
By Adriano Marchese
George Weston Ltd. reported a swing to a loss in its fourth quarter Wednesday after its real estate business booked a large fair value adjustment for the period.
The Toronto-based holding company, which is made up of the Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust and Canadian supermarket retailer Loblaw Cos. Ltd., reported a net loss of 114 million Canadian dollars ($83.5 million), or C$0.83 a share, compared with a profit of C$217 million, or C$1.44 a share, in the year-earlier period.
Revenue rose to C$14.14 billion from C$12.9 billion in the year-earlier period, a 9.6% increase, and higher than analyst expectations, which had pegged revenue at C$14.05 billion.
George Weston blamed the loss primarily on a fair value adjustment of C$540 million of a liability associated with the real estate investment trust unit, resulting from what it said was an increase in Choice Properties’s unit price in the quarter.
The fair value adjustment was offset by a strong fourth quarter that saw retail sales grow by 9.7% across its food and pharmacy businesses at its Loblaw unit, in which George Weston has an ownership interest of about 63%.
In the prior year’s fourth quarter, George Weston had benefited from a favorable court ruling that increased its net income by C$165 million.
Write to Adriano Marchese at [email protected]
