Strong position in food and drug retailing through its ownership of Loblaw Cos. Ltd. and Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. Well-recognized Weston Foods brands in Canada Weak growth and persistently competitive conditions for food retailing and processing in Canada, with solid growth prospects for drugstores Integration of Shoppers Drug Mart amid continuing systems investments at Loblaw Consolidated adjusted debt-to-EBITDA about or below 3x over the next few years Robust annual discretionary cash flow and more than C$2 billion of cash and short-term investments "Strong" liquidity and good financial flexibility The combination of a "satisfactory" business risk profile and an "intermediate" financial risk profile results in an initial analytical outcome (anchor) of either 'bbb' or 'bbb-'. Our selection of a 'bbb' anchor
