The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.
(Questions from industry analysts are provided in full, but answers are omitted - download the transcript to see the full question-and-answer session)
Question: Vishal Shreedhar - National Bank Financial, Inc., Research Division - Analyst
: Wondering -- and I missed the top of this call, thus, you may have addressed it, but wondering if you can comment a little bit on the inventory
growth a bit higher than I anticipated. Any color there?
Question: Vishal Shreedhar - National Bank Financial, Inc., Research Division - Analyst
: Okay. And then as you contemplate the Dollar City option and you look at your balance sheet, would -- should investors consider a scenario where
Dollarama would have to curtail buyback to build the capital for that particular option?
Question: Vishal Shreedhar - National Bank Financial, Inc., Research Division - Analyst
: Okay. And this one's a bit of a tricky one, but are there any metrics that investors can look at or which should point investors to look at -- to help
us better understand where management views its competitiveness versus its peers? For instance, if traffic rebounds positively, does that mean
that Dollarama is now better positioned versus its competitors which was the issue causing the management to curtail the price increases relative
to history or the inflation and its mix? I'm not sure if that question was clear, but I'm just kind of looking at what key metrics we can look at to say
Dollarama's competitive position has improved.
Question: Vishal Shreedhar - National Bank Financial, Inc., Research Division - Analyst
:
Question: Vishal Shreedhar - National Bank Financial, Inc., Research Division - Analyst
: Okay. The -- and for the year ahead, and I might be trying to sneak one in here. But in terms of the year ahead for the margin cadence, should we
think -- EBITDA margin cadence, should we think H1 down, H2 kind of stabilized, just given the way the trends unfolded in fiscal '19?
Question: Peter Sklar - BMO Capital Markets Equity Research - Analyst
: Neil, back on transaction count. So it's been negative for 4 quarters in a row. You don't know whether it's because of increased credit card and debit
card penetration. It sounds like you don't believe that's cannibalization, because Michael said earlier in the call that you're meeting your payback
targets in all your new stores. So Neil, I'd just like to hear your thoughts on what you think is going on with this persistent negative transaction
count?
Question: Peter Sklar - BMO Capital Markets Equity Research - Analyst
: Okay. So as you look forward, like, you provided the guidance for the current fiscal year of 2.5% to 3.5%. I assume you and Michael put some
considerable thought into that guidance. I understand you don't want to give specific numbers, but could you provide some flavor on the components
in it, like, what your underlying assumptions were for like-to-like pricing, penetration of higher price point items, transaction count growth, et
cetera? Any kind of flavor you can provide would be helpful.
Question: Peter Sklar - BMO Capital Markets Equity Research - Analyst
: That was helpful, Michael. And then lastly, Michael, I just wanted to ask, is there any way you could provide guidance on the impact of IFRS 16
before the next quarter, because it's going to be very difficult for investors to forecast your first quarter without some guidance on the P&L effects?
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