Metro invests to cut costs

Article Excerpt

METRO INC., $70.14, is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol MRU; Shares o/s: 239.9 million; Market cap: $16.8 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 1.6%; www.metro.ca) operates 950 grocery stores and 650 drugstores, in Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick. Metro has now opened its new $400 million distribution centre in Toronto that uses automated equipment to handle fresh and frozen foods. That will cut its future labour costs. The company is also spending $420 million to build an automated distribution centre for fresh and frozen products in Terrebonne, Quebec, just north of Montreal. This facility should open in 2023. Meantime, with the March 2022 payment, Metro raised your quarterly dividend by 10.0%. The new annual rate of $1.10 yields 1.6%. Metro Inc. remains a buy. buy…