Empire Company Ltd Q2 2021 Earnings Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Peter Sklar - BMO Capital Markets Equity Research - Analyst : Sorry, back to Voila, just one question there. You -- Mike, you had said that you anticipate it will take 2 years to achieve capacity, which is, I think, consistent with what you've been saying before. And how do we think about capacity? Is capacity -- like do you think about it in terms of orders per week and I think you've mentioned in the past -- I think you mentioned that capacity is 60,000 orders per week. Is that the way to think about it?

Question: Peter Sklar - BMO Capital Markets Equity Research - Analyst : Okay. And 2 questions. Is all the capacity -- sorry, is all the capital in place now? Or are you going to be adding capital incrementally? And then also, do you expect that the dilution will be less in year 2 than it is in year 1?

Question: Peter Sklar - BMO Capital Markets Equity Research - Analyst : Yes.

Question: Peter Sklar - BMO Capital Markets Equity Research - Analyst : Okay. And at Ocado, I'm sure you know that like they've had trouble with their app, and their app has been down. I'm not too sure if it's due to -- they don't have the capacity or if they have technology issues. But I'm just wondering, is that the issues that they have with their app with their app? I'm sure that you're licensing a lot of the technology behind the app. Has that affected your app at all?

Question: Peter Sklar - BMO Capital Markets Equity Research - Analyst : Okay. And then lastly, I just wanted to ask you about the strong November that you're seeing with the 11% comp. I'm just wondering if you would -- Michael, I'd like to hear you reflect a little bit on that on what you think is happening is that are you having a particularly strong promotional calendar? Or is it just consumers are shopping early for Christmas? So they're stretching it out? I'd be really interested to hear your thinking on this.

Question: Vishal Shreedhar - National Bank Financial, Inc., Research Division - Analyst : And I guess I'll just continue the trend about asking on Voila. And so obviously -- and management is very happy with the growth numbers that were indicated. And I was wondering if you had a sense of what's driving the growth this early or at least if you can prioritize it for me. Is it the high Net Promoter Score? Is it your SKU additions? Is it marketing operational improvement? Is there something that stands out?

Question: Vishal Shreedhar - National Bank Financial, Inc., Research Division - Analyst : Yes, exactly.

Question: Vishal Shreedhar - National Bank Financial, Inc., Research Division - Analyst : Okay. And maybe just switching topics here a little bit. Markets, stock markets have started to look to a day when COVID-19 is behind us. Presumably at that time, restaurants, travel will start coming back, and that might place a little bit of pressure on grocery demand. Is there anything -- looking in the future, is there anything that a grocer can do with costs, merchandising, marketing, data analytics, so on and so forth to keep customers excited and coming back during that time period?

Question: Vishal Shreedhar - National Bank Financial, Inc., Research Division - Analyst : Okay. And I think you may have touched on this, but just one of your peers commented on the price competitiveness of the industry and suggested that discount might be heating up a little bit. Wondering what you're seeing on this side.

Question: Patricia A. Baker - Scotiabank Global Banking and Markets, Research Division - Analyst : Michael, you indicated that despite COVID, the company is very, very focused on Project Horizon and you're pleased with how that's progressing. In one of the elements of Project Horizon, of course, is the store renovations, you noted that you did 18 stores in the quarter. Can you just provide us with an overview of what specifically the renovation projects encompass? What are the elements that we have kind of a visualization of how the stores are different? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. DECEMBER 10, 2020 / 5:30PM, EMPa.TO - Q2 2021 Empire Company Ltd Earnings Call

Question: Patricia A. Baker - Scotiabank Global Banking and Markets, Research Division - Analyst : Wonderful.

Question: Patricia A. Baker - Scotiabank Global Banking and Markets, Research Division - Analyst : No, it does, Mike. It's very helpful. Yes. And just what has been your experience with the 3 stores in the Nova Scotia market, where you're doing the click and collect? And you indicated that you would be taking that to Alberta in advance of the CFC. Is that something that will roll out to Alberta this fiscal year or later?