Empire said its net earnings for the three months ending Feb. 3 totalled $134.2 million compared to $125.7 million last year. Sales rose 5.1 per cent, with its Voilà e-commerce offering seeing 16 per cent growth. (The Logic)

Talking point: Empire reported adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of 62 cents, down from 64 cents a year ago. It was a “modest” miss of analysts’ consensus estimate of 64 cents, wrote Scotiabank analyst George Doumet in a note. The grocery retailer said that now that it has completed two multi-year turnaround projects, it will focus on growing its adjusted EPS by renovating about a quarter of its stores over three years, continuing to cut costs, and improving its e-commerce service and data use. Through its Scene+ loyalty program, it plans to use machine learning and AI to improve personalization—a key strategy that retailers use to increase revenue.