Empire Company Limited reported earnings results for the second quarter and six months ended November 4, 2017. For the quarter, the company reported sales of $6,026.1 million against $5,930.9 million a year ago. Sales increased by 1.6% for the 13 weeks ended November 4, 2017 as same-store sales were higher in most areas of the country, driven by increases in traffic, basket size and more disciplined pricing strategies, compared to significant deflationary pricing strategies in the prior year.  Food inflation was positive, contributing to the increase in sales. EBITDA was $113.0 million against $187.8 million a year ago. EBITDA was positively impacted by the aforementioned improvement in sales and margins.  Excluding the impact of one-time Project Sunrise costs, adjusted EBITDA increased by 33.7% to $242.2 million in the second quarter. Adjusted EBITDA was $242.2 million against $181.2 million a year ago. Operating income was $2.6 million against $76.4 million a year ago. Adjusted operating income was $138.3 million compared to $76.2 million a year ago. Net loss was $23.6 million against earnings of $33.1 million a year ago. Adjusted net earnings were $73.9 million against $32.9 million a year ago. Diluted loss per share was $0.09 against earnings of $0.12 a year ago. Adjusted EPS (fully diluted) were $0.27 against $0.12 a year ago. Free cash flow generation was $117.4 million compared to $18.9 million last year, an increase of about $99 million from last year, which is primarily due to lower capital investments, as the company intentionally reduced investments this year, as the company worked to improve capital allocation processes.

For the six months, the company reported sales of $12,299.3 million against $12,117.5 million a year ago. EBITDA was $351.8 million against $426.1 million a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA was $521.0 million against $424.3 million a year ago. Operating income was $127.8 million against $203.0 million a year ago. Adjusted operating income was $310.0 million compared to $214.1 million a year ago. Net earnings were $30.4 million against $98.5 million a year ago. Adjusted net earnings were $161.4 million against $106.5 million a year ago. Diluted earnings per share were $0.11 against $0.36 a year ago. Adjusted EPS (fully diluted) were $0.59 against $0.39 a year ago. Free cash flow generation was $237.1 million compared to $474.5 million last year.

For the full year of 2017, the company expects tax rate of 26% to 28%.