Dollarama posts second-quarter profit gains

Dollarama Inc. reported a second-quarter profit of $146.2 million, up from a profit of $142.5 million in the same quarter last year.

The retailer says the profit amounted to 48 cents per diluted share for the quarter, up from 46 cents a year ago.

Sales in 13-week period ended Aug. 1 totalled $1.03 billion, up from $1.01 billion last year.

Dollarama says comparable store sales fell 5.1% due to a ban on the sale of non-essential products in Ontario in place for the first 5.5 weeks of the quarter due to the pandemic.

It says for the 7.5-week period after the Ontario ban was lifted that comparable store sales rose 5.1% compared with a year ago.

Dollarama opened 13 net new stores in the quarter to bring its total store count to 1,381 compared with 1,314 a year ago.