For the third quarter of its 2023-2024 fiscal year, which ended on December 30, 2023, the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) reported net income of $522.7  million, an $18.7 million or 3.5% decrease from the corresponding quarter of the preceding fiscal year.


Results in brief

  • Dollar sales fell a slight 0.9% to $1.414 billion. The decrease is attributable to declining sales in the wholesale grocer network.
  • Excluding the wholesale grocer network, dollar sales for the store and specialized centre network remained stable at $1.290 billion.
  • The slight drop in growth seen in the three most recent quarters may continue given the current economic environment.
  • Government revenues totalled $947.4 million, a $31.7 million or 3.2% decrease from the corresponding quarter of the preceding fiscal year. Of this amount, $774.6 million will be remitted to the Quebec treasury and $172.8 million to the federal government.
Net income
$522.7 million
-3.5%		  Sales
$1.414 billion
-0.9%
Gross margin
$703.9 million
-2.7%		 Ratio of net expenses to sales
12.8%


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

  • Dollar sales in this network remained stable at $1.290 billion.
  • Volume sales fell 1.2 million litres or 1.9% to 60.4 million litres.
  • Online sales were up 30% from the third quarter of the preceding fiscal year, reaching $44.6 million and constituting 4.1% of consumer sales. The increase is largely due to a promotional activity that was held earlier this year than last year.
  • The value of consumers’ average shopping cart dropped 1.9%, from $68.95 to $67.65.
  • For consumer sales overall, the average sales price per litre rose to $23.11, compared with $22.79 for the corresponding quarter of the preceding fiscal year.
  • For the third quarter of fiscal 2023-2024, Quebec product sales totalled $195.3 million, a 2.2% decrease. These products now account for 15.1% of all sales made in the store and specialized centre network.


Wholesale grocer network

  • 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.
  • Dollar sales in the network fell $13.4 million or 9.7% to end the quarter at $124.4 million.
  • Volume sales totalled 13.2 million litres, a 2.2 million litre or 14.3% decrease. 


Net expenses

  • Net expenses amounted to $181.2 million versus $181,8 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2022-2023, a $0.6 million or 0.3% decrease.
  • Expressed as a percentage of sales, net expenses were 12.8%, compared with 12.7% for the same quarter of the preceding fiscal year.

 

The SAQ’s quarterly financial results, including the sales and expense trends for the last five years, are available in its Q3 financial report  (in French only).