Montreal, June 7, 2023 – The SAQ ended its 2022-2023 fiscal year with net income of $1.426 billion, up $76.1 million or 5.6% from the preceding fiscal year. Dollar sales rose 5% to $4.048 billion, while litre sales reached 228.2 million litres, a 0.9% increase. 


Results at a glance 

  • For the 11th year running, the SAQ will pay more than $1 billion to the benefit of all Quebecers. Specifically, a dividend of $1.426 billion will be remitted to the Quebec government.
  • Government revenues rose $115.5 million (4.5%) to $2.697 billion. Of that amount, $2.179 billion will go to the Quebec treasury and $517.4 million to the federal government.

 

 

 

Net income
$1.426 billion
+5.6% 

 

Sales
$4.048 billion
+5%

 

Gross margin
$2.040 billion
+5.5%

 

Ratio of net expenses to sales
15.2%

 

Store and specialized centre (permit holders, agencies and other customers) network

  • Dollar sales in this network totalled $3.684 billion, up $175.8 million or 5%. The increase is attributable to sales made to restaurants and bars.
  • Volume sales rose 0.5 million litres or 0.3% to 186.8 million litres.
  • Online sales were down 12.3% from the preceding fiscal year to $93.3 million. This result is nonetheless double that for pre-pandemic fiscal 2019-2020. They now account for 3.1% of consumer sales.
  • The average sales price per liter in the store network and online increased to $21.34 versus $20.67 for the preceding fiscal year.
  • The value of consumers’ average shopping cart dropped from $68.94 to $65.26. This 5.3% decrease is mainly due to shoppers returning to their old habits, as indicated by the 4.3% rise in traffic.
  • In fiscal 2022-2023, sales of Quebec products rose 9.1% to $584.5 million. They now account for 15.9% of all sales made in the store and specialized centre network.

Wholesale grocer network

  • Dollar sales in this network grew $17.6 million or 5.1% to $364 million.
  • Volume sales experienced a 1.5 million litre or 3.8% increase, ending the year at 41.4 million litres.
  • It should be noted that the SAQ acts as a wholesaler to the Quebec grocery and convenience store network. Consequently, the sales made in this network do not necessarily correspond to the sales these establishments made to consumers. 

Net expenses

  • Net expenses rose to $613.5 million as opposed to $584 million in fiscal 2021-2022, a $29.5 million or 5.1% increase.
  • Expressed as a percentage of sales, net expenses ratio remained stable at 15.2%, the same as the preceding fiscal year, despite the inflationary environment.


The SAQ makes its results accessible to all Quebecers in its Annual Report 2022-2023.