Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Metro Inc. 2023 third quarter results conference call. At this time, all lines are in listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. If at any time during this call require immediate assistance, please press star zero for the operator. This call is being recorded on Wednesday, August ninth, 2023. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Sharon Kadoche, Manager in Investor Relations and Treasury. Please go ahead, sir. Good morning, thank you for joining us today. Our comments will focus on the financial results of our third quarter, which ended on July 1st. With me today is Mr. Eric La Flèche, President and Chief Executive Officer, and François Thibault, Executive VP and Chief Financial Officer. During the call, we will present our third quarter results and comment on its highlights. We'll be happy to take your questions. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that we will use in today's discussion, different statements that could be construed as forward-looking information. In general, any statement which does not constitute a historical fact may be deemed a forward-looking statement. Words or expressions such as expect, intent, are confident that, will, and other similar words or expressions are generally indicative of forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are based upon certain assumptions regarding the Canadian food and pharmaceutical industries, the general economy, our annual budget, and our 2022, 2023 action plan. These forward-looking statements do not provide any guarantees as to the future performance of the company and are subject to potential risks, known and unknown, as well as uncertainties that could cause the outcome to differ materially. Risk factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from our expectations, as expressed in or implied by our forward-looking statements, are described under the Risk Management section in our 2022 annual report. We believe these forward-looking statements to be reasonable and pertinent at this time and represent our expectations. The company does not intend to update any forward-looking statement except as required by applicable law. I will now turn the call over to François. Thank you, Sharon. Good morning, everyone. Total sales for the quarter were CAD 6.4 billion, an increase of 9.6% over last year, with food same store sales up 9.4% in the quarter and pharma same store sales up 5.9%. When you adjust for the CAD 5.3 million direct costs related to the one-week labor conflict that was included in the gross profit of last year, gross margin is down 20 basis points. The reduction reflects the decline in our food gross margin as we continue to absorb part of the cost increases and as the shift to discount is still prevalent. Operating expenses increased 8% to stand at CAD 650.6 million, or 10.1% of sales, versus 10.3% of sales last year. The third quarter was impacted by CAD 5.1 million of launch costs related to the launch of our loyalty program, Moi, as well as fees related to higher online partnership sales. Included in Q3 last year are CAD 2.4 million of direct costs related to the one-week labor conflict with our distribution center employees in Toronto. EBITDA for the quarter totaled CAD 612.3 million, up 8.4% year-over-year, and represented 9.5% of sales versus 9.6% last year. Total depreciation and amortization expense for the quarter was CAD 159.5 million versus CAD 154.7 million last year. The 3.1% increase reflects the additional investments in supply chain logistics as well as in-store technology. In our third quarter, the income tax expense amounted to CAD 69 million and represented an effective tax rate of 16.6%, compared with an income tax expense of CAD 99.6 million and an effective tax rate of 26.6% in the third quarter last year. The company recorded tax assets of CAD 40.7 million in the quarter. That's comprised of CAD 8.2 million of current tax assets and CAD 32.5 million of deferred tax assets, with an equivalent reduction in, of the tax expense following a favorable judgment at the Tax Court of Canada. Capital losses previously disallowed by the Canada Revenue Agency on the disposition of shares of Rite Aid by Groupe Jean Coutu in the years 2012 to 2014, have now been granted. The CRA subsequently accepted that the company amend a rollover form filed for the tax year ended March 3, 2018, and that results in an increase in the tax base of intangible assets. Adjusted net earnings were CAD 314.8 million, compared to CAD 283.8 million last year, a 10.9% increase, and our adjusted net earnings per share amounted to CAD 1.35, up 14.4% versus last year's adjusted EPS of CAD 1.18. After three quarters in fiscal 2023, capital expenditures amounted to CAD 453.2 million versus CAD 445.8 million last year. On the retail side, we opened five new stores so far this year, one Metro store in the province of Quebec, two Super Cs, and one Food Basics, while converting a Metro to a Super C in Gatineau. We also carried out major renovation in seven stores, representing a net increase of 153,000 sq ft, or 0.7% of our food retail network. Turning to our current normal course issue with program, we have repurchased between November 25, 2022 and July 28 of this year, a little over 6.2 million shares for a total consideration of CAD 449.3 million, representing an average share price of CAD 72.23 a share. That's it for me. I'll turn it over to Eric. Thank you, François. Good morning, everyone. We delivered solid results in the third quarter, fueled by strong same-store sales and good operating leverage. While food inflation remains stubbornly high, our teams did an excellent job to offer good value to our customers in all of our banners, resulting in market share gains for the network in tonnage and dollars. ... driven by our discount food stores. For the quarter, total sales grew by 9.6%, EBITDA by 8.4%, and adjusted EPS by 14.4%. Food same-store sales were up 9.4%, driven by the continuing shift to discount. Our internal food basket inflation decelerated to 8%, lower than the reported CPI and lower than in the previous quarter. Traffic was up significantly, while the average basket remained flat. Promotional penetration remains high, and private label sales continue to outpace national brands. Our food gross margins came in lower than last year again this quarter, as we continue to absorb a portion of the cost increases we incur. In pharmacy, we delivered strong, balanced performance despite the expected decrease in cough and cold demand. Pharmacy comparable sales were up 5.9%, on top of 7.2% in the third quarter last year. Prescription sales were up 6.7%, driven by dispensing fee indexations, growth in high-cost therapies, and professional services. Commercial sales were up 4.1%, primarily driven by cosmetics and health and beauty. The two-year stack is 12.7% for prescription sales and 15.2% for commercial products. As you know, the employees of, at 27 of our Metro stores in the Greater Toronto area have been on strike since July 29th. We are clearly disappointed, given that we had worked constructively with the union and the employees' bargaining committee to reach a very good agreement, providing significant pay increases that they unanimously recommended to the employees. We remain committed to the bargaining process and look forward to a resolution and the reopening of our stores as soon as possible, while ensuring the long-term competitiveness of our company. We successfully launched our Moi loyalty program in late May, and early results are very encouraging, with more than 1 million new members joining the program, which now has 2.2 million members and still growing across our five banners. The swipe rate in all banners is healthy, and overall customer response has been positive. Also, we see a higher basket spend for Moi customers across all banners. Our online food sales were up 99% versus last year, mostly driven by new partnership sales. Demand for our own online services has been stable, and we continue to add capacity with more click-and-collect stores. Turning to the modernization of our supply chain, we continue to see productivity improve in both our fresh phase 1 and frozen distribution centers in Toronto. We look forward to the launch of our state-of-the-art fresh and frozen automated distribution center in Terrebonne, north of Montreal, in the coming weeks to serve our Quebec stores. As we begin our fourth quarter, we are seeing some moderation in food inflation. Compared to last year, the number of price increase requests received from suppliers in Q3 are down about 40%. However, the size of the increases remains higher than normal in the mid-to-high single digits. That's on top of many double-digit increases last year. We're tracking input costs, and our teams are negotiating the best possible costs to minimize retail price inflation. On the pharmacy side, we will be going up against tough comps in the next few quarters as we lap extraordinary demand in OTC medication in fiscal 22 due to post-COVID-19 cough and cold symptoms. We are now back to more normal demand levels. Finally, I want to take this opportunity to address comments that have been made in the media following the recent plea by a bread supplier in the Competition Bureau investigation that started in 2015, and also the recent launch of a new class action alleging price fixing in the meat category. This class action has yet to be certified, and we will vigorously oppose its certification. Let me be clear, we have not participated in any price-fixing agreements, and we have not violated the Competition Act. Compliance with the law and our code of conduct by all employees, from top to bottom, is fundamental at our company. Allegations that the food industry's culture is such that these practices may be generalized or that the governance is somehow deficient, are simply not true. Damages the reputation of our company, all its employees, and the industry, and should stop. We take pride in our team, our culture, our performance, and our investments to better serve our customers and support our communities. Thank you. We'll be happy to take your questions. Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, we now begin the question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If your question has been answered and you would like to withdraw from the queue, please press star followed by the number two. If you're using a speakerphone, please lift your handset before pressing any keys. One moment please while we compile the roster. Your first question comes from Tamy Chen with BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead. Hi, good morning. Thanks for the questions. First, I just wanted to go back to the, the, the comp here. I mean, I know we're doing a bit of street math here, but it implies a positive tonnage result, which is quite positive. Could you just talk a bit more about that? I know in the press release you've called out market share gains, but anything more you could say about that strong performance would be helpful. Were there any-... specific factors that you would highlight, can you talk a bit more about the positive impact your automated DCs in Toronto would have had, whether it's better fill rates or better quality on the produce? The general comment is, we're very pleased with our performance on the food side across the business. We're, we're, we're gaining share and doing really well on a relative basis overall, within discount and within conventional. Very pleased with the performance. It's a challenging operating environment. Inflation is tough. People are searching for value in all of our stores, on all of their trips. I think, like I said, our, our merchandisers and our store operators did a great job to, to deliver good value to our customers. That's reflected in the, in the strong same-store sales that we're reporting today. Discount is a big driver of that growth. The shift to discount continues. It's, it's been ongoing, and it, and it still continues today. We're well positioned with Super C and Food Basics, and that's allowing us to to record some of these numbers and gaining tonnage. As inflation moderates and starts to decelerate, with the strong same-store sales that we have, yes, we are gaining tonnage overall. I'm not gonna point out one category. You, you point out the, the DCs in Toronto, for sure, our in-stock position with these new DCs is better, and that has contributed to some sales and, and some tonnage, probably. I wouldn't point out that as the big driver. It's one factor amongst many. There's a lot of factors at play. Strong execution, good merchandising in, in this tough operating environment. Okay. What about on the promotional side? In this quarter, the year-over-year declining in food gross margin, were you investing perhaps a bit more than typical in promotions to drive that tonnage that may have contributed to the year-over-year decline in gross margin? Promotional penetration is stable. It's, it's pretty much back to, you know, pre-pandemic levels, so I would call it stable and normal. It's high, but it's always been kinda at those levels. Investing. We're, we're absorbing part of the cost increases. We're facing, have been facing for over a year, significant cost increases. There are limits to what we can charge to our customers. Yeah, it's reflected in a lower gross margin in food, like we've been saying for a few quarters. It's a reality to be competitive and offer a good value to our customers. Private label is growing strongly at a higher rate. That's, that's helping. As, as we grow discount sales, as we offer good value to our customers, that puts pressure on our gross margin in, in the environment where we have all these cost increases. Right. Okay. That's it for me. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Your next question comes from Irene Nattel with RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead. Thanks, and good morning, everyone. On the, on the Moi, I think you mentioned that you have a million new customers, which is fabulous. What are you seeing in terms of sort of the cross-shop, PJC, Metro, and even sort of the, and the redemption across both banners? Yeah. So very pleased with the, with the sign-up. 1 million new members is ahead of our, our, of our schedule, so very pleased with that. I think the teams did a great media campaign. It, it was really a, a strong launch in Quebec, and people are responding well across all of our banners. Metro and Moi customer had the card before, so it's seamless for them, but we're signing up new customers or new members at Jean Coutu, Super C, and also a little bit. Very positive. Early days for cross-shopping, all this analysis, it will be done. We're seeing some, but I'm not gonna draw big conclusions. It's still very, very early days. The purpose of the program, the coalition within our company, with our multiple banners, it's complementary, high traffic, and we're very confident that we're gonna see more and more cross-shop and cross redemption of the Moi points into our stores. A successful launch, but a lot of work ahead. The RBC partnership is off to a good start, too. We'll be monitoring those results going forward. That's great. Thank you. Then just thinking ahead to the opening of the DC here in Montreal, presumably, as you're planning for the opening, you're taking a lot of the learnings from Toronto. How should we be thinking about sort of the, the phasing of it coming on stream, and sort of any incremental costs or duplicative services that we should be keeping in mind? So yeah. So we will start the ramp-up next month, sometime in September, with the, with the cool, the cool down starts next week, and then we, we will start operations gradually in September. So we will transition product gradually over the next several months. So this is next year is gonna be a transition year, where we operate the new DC in Terrebonne. The old DCs will still be operating as we transfer products. So our intention is to finish our budgets, do all our numbers, and give you more guidance in November on what the impact of these costs are gonna be for next year. We're not ready to do that, but there will be some. That's for sure. On the learnings, clearly, yes. Several people from Quebec were involved in the DC launches in Toronto over the last couple of years. A lot of learning has taken place, and that will be taken to Terrebonne when we launch this center. I think we're gonna be in good shape, but it's gonna be a transition year. That's great. Thank you very much. Thank you. Your next question comes from Michael Van Aelst with TD Cowen. Please go ahead. Yeah, hi. Thank you. Good quarter. I have a question on the e-commerce side, actually. This is, you know, very strong growth, and it seems like you're gaining share, at least on the Instacart platform, I'd assume. Is that, is that accurate? What else do you, do you think explains that jump in your growth rate overall in your e-commerce from 40% in the first half to almost 100% in this quarter? Michael, like I said, the, the growth is mostly substantially driven by the partnerships, so it's Instacart, it's Uber. We're as we're putting more banners and more stores and more regions on that platform, it's, it's growing our sales number versus the previous quarter. What's our share on Instacart? I don't know. We, our, our sales with those, with those marketplaces are growing. Eric, did you add Uber and Instacart in the last quarter? Like, I thought that was added later last year. It was. We've been on Cornershop by Uber for a long time. We've added Instacart over the last year, so we haven't done 1 full year yet, but we're ramping up size, you know, sales are growing on those platforms. Yes, it was more in Q3 than it was in Q2, and at some point it's gonna stabilize. So happy with that performance. Okay, it's not. You didn't actually see more. Actually, I guess the question is, did you see more geographies added to the platform, let's call it, over the last quarter to explain that jump? Yes. Yes, those, those marketplaces are, are opening up in more geographies, where we can serve the customer. That's, that's, that's contributing to it for sure. Yeah. Okay. Our own- Go ahead. Go ahead. I was just gonna say, our own service, services are online are pretty stable, so demand for our own services has been pretty stable, but we've been growing share, total e-com share, through these marketplace platforms. Okay. As it grows, I didn't hear your comment earlier. Does the extra costs, partnership costs, does that affect your, your gross margin or your OpEx? It's OpEx, Michael. We flagged it in the MD&A, so we have more e-com fees in the OpEx than versus last year. That's part of the reason why it's a little higher. All right. Are you willing to give us what your e-commerce penetration is now? No. All right. Thanks very much. Thanks, Michael. Thank you. Your next question comes from Vishal Shreedhar with National Bank. Please go ahead. Hi, thanks for taking my questions. Just a few quick ones here. Is it fair to say that your market share gains are accelerating quarter-over-quarter? Yeah. Yes, you can say that. Okay. Yes. With respect to market share, on the Jonquière side, in prescriptions, are you seeing market share gains there as well? Pretty stable, on that side. Okay. Also related to market share, you know, Metro has been advancing many initiatives, got your big supply chain initiatives, you have your loyalty offers, and, you know, these have direct customer-facing benefits. Wondering, as a result of these initiatives, are you able to isolate any improvements associated to your Net Promoter Scores, or are you seeing that improve, and is, is that resulting in, in your market share gains? You know, our, our NPS, we monitor NPS, and customer satisfaction in all of our banners constantly. We're pleased with our overall numbers. Clearly, in this high inflation environment, customers are not super happy about pricing. I think it's an industry issue and a global issue. That's affecting our numbers a little bit, but overall, the rest of the metrics we, we measure are, are trending positively overall. We're pleased with our customer satisfaction performance. Okay. Maybe just changing topics here, on the impact of shrink. Are you seeing that magnifying or is it stabilizing? What is management doing to better control that line? You know, it's, it's again, an execution and operations issue at store level, to, to control shrink. If you're referring to theft and all of that, shrink is also a function of merchandising and pricing and, and, and, and turnover in our stores. Overall, we're pleased with, with our shrink performance. We're not seeing a huge spike in shrink. Clearly, there, there, there are issues with self-checkouts, but there were issues before. There are more organized networks to, to steal from us and from other retailers, so we have to be very careful. With loss prevention, our franchisees, store operators, it's a, it's a constant effort to, to manage it. That's what we're doing. It's an issue that we address, like many others, but I can't point to that to say, it, it, it's a huge issue. Okay. Thanks for your comments. Thank you. Thanks, John. Thank you. Your next question comes from Mark Petrie with CIBC. Please go ahead. Hey, good morning. I just wanted to follow up on a couple of things, actually. Just on the food same-store sales, I know there's always noise in the inflation versus same-store sales growth calculation, especially with consumer behavior shifting so much. You were sort of lapping an outlier period last year where the tonnage looked, you know, weak relative to your normal sort of trend. I'm just curious to hear a bit more about this and how much of this result do you think is sort of catch up from lapping something, some noisy numbers last year, versus something that could sustain and flow through the, through the results for the next, you know, couple quarters, if, if you were to hold the share from here, the share gains from here? Well, yeah, the, the, we were lapping a 1% same-store sales or thereabout last year in, in Q3, so I, I hear you. Again, the COVID noise of the last few years is, is, is harder to analyze that way. We, we consistently look every week at our number versus pre-COVID and how we're doing on a 4-year stack basis, and we're very pleased with our performance overall. The discount shift, if you, you look at it over 4 years, is, is, is strong. Again, as, as I said in my opening statement, we're well positioned with, with Super C and, and Food Basics. Very pleased with, with our current performance, our market share gains. The quarter last year reflected the quarter the year before, so you have to be careful on the lapping. They were not necessarily. Last year versus 2021 was not necessarily apples to apples, whereas this year, 2023 versus 2022, it's pretty much apples to apples, and we're pleased with our growth. Okay. Okay, appreciate that. Then, just also following up on the, on the gross margin. I think last quarter, food was a little bit stronger, supported by, I think you've called out, amongst other things, the ramping DC efficiencies. So I just want to confirm, you know, those, those efficiencies are, are continuing and probably even accelerating a little bit. It was, it was, it was maybe just some near-term volatility as opposed to any fundamental shifts in, in sort of the, the, the, the payoffs from the DC. Is that fair? That's fair, Mark. The efficiencies are still there. Yeah. Okay. And sorry, just on the Moi, to the other follow-up, is how are the enrollment rates kind of performing now? Obviously, there's an initial surge when you launch. Have those started to plateau, or are you still sort of seeing, you know, initial, kind of that initial surge? Is that continuing? Yes, for sure, it, it's plateauing, but it's still growing. The numbers are growing every week, at a, at a slower rate than they were in the first few weeks. We're pleased with, we're pleased with the numbers we're getting, and we, we, we see continued enrollment, opportunities, and we will, we will, we, we will, do everything we can to sign up as many people as we can. Yeah. Yep, yep. No, absolutely. Just trying to sort of gauge where you're at in terms of that progression. Then I don't know if you can or are willing to share anything with regards to, you know, the next steps with regards to sort of deepening engagement with that program. Well, next steps, like I said, we're, we're rolling it out, but we, we have a strong digital strategy to engage with our customers, connect with our customers. All the personalization, the connections, the personalized rebates, the cross-shopping opportunities, that's all part of our loyalty slash digital program. You know, for obvious competitive reasons, I'm not gonna give, give, give you all the strategies, but it's clearly part of our program to drive sales and drive loyalty with, with our customers. More of, more of their spend within our stores. That's, that's what it's all for. Okay, appreciate that. Congrats on the quarter. All the best. Thank you. Thank you. Your next question comes from George Doumet with Scotiabank. Please go ahead. Yeah, good morning. Congrats on a good quarter. I just want to talk a little bit about the strong Rx comps in the quarter. I think you mentioned higher dispensing fees and other initiatives. Can you maybe help us understand what, what drove that, what drove that 6% plus number, and how are volumes trending versus pre-pandemic? Yeah. We're, we're pleased with the Rx demand. It, it, it is strong, especially considering that we were lapping some COVID Rx sales driven by, by COVID, including tests and vaccines and that kind of stuff, which were basically nonexistent in this quarter. We pointed out indexation fees. The public drug program in Quebec, the Quebec Association of Pharmacists, came to an agreement with the health ministry, and I don't have the exact rate, but they bumped up the prescription fee on, on all the prescriptions, so that has contributed. Higher cost therapies are growing. That's also a contributing factor that I, that I pointed out. Pharmacy services, you know, the medical acts that the pharmacists are now allowed to do, that's, that's, that's a growing, that's a growing portion of our Rx sales. Which is very encouraging. Pleased with our performance. Jean Coutu, Brunet together, we have number 1 leading share in, in Quebec for prescriptions, and, and it's holding really well, even as we cycle the, the COVID stuff. Very pleased with our performance and, and, and our market share. Okay, thanks. Just maybe moving to the, the front end of the pharmacy. You know, we're coming off a pretty strong record season last year, and just wondering if there's a po- a potential for maybe the comps to be flat to negative over the next few quarters. Maybe if the, if the beauty product side doesn't really... Does slow down a little bit, given kind of the macro out there. Just, just your view maybe on how, you see that potentially evolving? Yeah. We'll be lapping, we did lap this quarter, strong front-end sales. We will do the same over the next couple of quarters. Last year, these front-end sales were driven very much by OTC. The cough and cold symptoms post-COVID were high, so that drove a lot of traffic and sales in our stores, OTC and others. We're seeing, like I said in my opening statement, more normal levels of demand in that regard now. You can expect a lower, for sure, a lower comp at the front end in pharmacy in the next quarter and maybe the following quarter. OTC demand is down a bit right now. Health and beauty, cosmetics trending up, continuing to trend up. Overall, the cycling of that exceptional OTC sale last year is, is, is a tough lap, and, we'll have to look at market share because, we're not gonna repeat that success. Okay, that, that's helpful. I want to talk a little bit about SG&A, maybe, François. The rate's up quite a bit, mid-single digits, I think, mid to high single digits versus kind of, last quarter. How should we think about run rate, maybe, over the next few quarters and its ability to maybe, you know, be as high as, as sales? You know, just wondering how you think about the, the, potential, the, that rate and the deleveraging over the next couple of quarters. Yeah. Obviously, there is a link to sales. Obviously, as sales grow, your SG&A grows as well. There's a portion of, there's a portion of variable. It's, I think, the If you have to look at the, the increase versus the top-line growth, Q1 was up 4.2 year-over-year, Q2 was up 4.9, now it's 8, with a 9.6 top line growth, so it's still quite in line. When you adjust for the launch cost of Moi and the Strike cost last year, that increase is, is, is 7.6% year-over-year, and it's 10% of sales versus 10.2% of sales last year. It's, it's, it's trending in the right direction. I'm not, we didn't give the, the amount of the e-com fees, but if, if you take that into account, because they're, they're, they're much higher than they were last year, obviously, as Eric mentioned, then we're below 7% increase year-over-year. I'm on the top-line growth of 9.6, I'm very, I'm very okay with that. Obviously, it's an area that we, you know, we, we focus on. We got to make sure that this, this SG&A remains in line with the top-line growth. So far, we've done that in 3 quarters, and that's what we're, we'll focus on going forward. Okay, just one last one, if I may. Just where are we exactly maybe on the journey for conversions to discount in Quebec? Is that something that will continue maybe, you know, next year as well, and the year after? Just any, any, maybe, any sense you can give us, maybe where we are there. Thanks. Yeah, we, like I've always said, we manage market by market, store by store, what's the best format for each market at the right time. We've converted a couple of stores last year. We, we probably will convert a couple of stores next year. This is the realm of the magnitude, magnitude we're talking about. We don't have a wholesale program here to convert a ton of stores to discount. Clearly, there's a shift in the market, and we, we want, we want to capture it, but we have strong Metro stores. Those that are more apt for a discount conversion, we, we, we, we will manage closely and monitor and, and convert at, at the right time if, if it's the right decision, market by market. We, we have a few potential conversions, but it's, it's, it's not a huge, huge program. Okay. Thanks for your answers. Thank you. Thank you. Your next question comes from Chris Li with Desjardins. Please go ahead. Oh, good morning, everyone. Hi, Eric. I was wondering, you know, when you look at the percentage of food customers that are omnichannel, have you seen a notable increase for you guys? Given that, I think you mentioned the omnichannel basket size is about 3 times the single-channel customer, I wonder if that's also one of the reasons you're seeing such a strong growth in, in food sales. It, it's one of many reasons, but yes. We have more and more multi-channel shoppers, shopping our stores and online, at different times for different purposes, and that's a growing number, and we're growing a share of stomach with these customers and share of wallet. That's a big driver of our strategy to offer customers to shop on our stores or online, the way they want, when they want. We have the same price, the same promotion, online and in-store. I think that's an attraction that's making some gains for us. Okay, thanks for that. Apologies if you mentioned this already, but are you able to share with us, you know, how did the food same-store sales evolve during the quarter? Did it accelerate through the quarter, or was it largely stable or, you know, stable rates, rate of growth? I, I don't think, it would be wise to give you too much detail, but we're very pleased with their performance. It was pretty strong throughout the quarter, and I'll just leave it at that. Okay. Is it fair to infer from your comments that the performance in both Food Basics and Super C, they were both more or less equally strong? It wasn't like one better than the other, necessarily. We don't point out performance by banner, specifically, or by province, specifically. All of discount did well. Again, pleased with our Metro stores on a relative basis in their respective markets. We're holding and growing, but the discount was the biggest driver, and I'm not gonna segregate between the two discount banners. Okay. Just lastly, just anything on the drug reform side that you're monitoring? Yes, we are monitoring. On the branded drugs, we're still waiting for the PMPRB. I always get that acronym wrong, but Whatever. You know, you know what I mean? We're still waiting for- Yes. That's thank you. On the generic side, there's no agreement yet, but we, we understand that negotiations are progressing well. Hopefully, they'll get to a resolution soon. We have no news to report, no new news to report. Okay, perfect. Have a good rest of the summer, guys. Thank you. Thank you, Chris. Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. You may proceed. Thank you all for your interest in Metro, and we will speak again soon to discuss our fourth quarter results on November 15th. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines. Have a great day.