Empire Company Limited EMP.A

Consumer StaplesFood & Drug RetailingCanada

Last close 50.27 CAD on Nov 1, 2026, +7.4% year to date

Quant rating

Quant rating A+ Rank 1 of 21 in Consumer Staples

Growth B 13 of 21
Valuation B 9 of 21
Quality B 14 of 21
Revisions A 2 of 21
Momentum B 9 of 21

Wall Street consensus Hold (3.00)Average target 53.50 CAD +6.4%

Historical valuation

Multiples use consensus estimates for the next twelve months. The dashed line is the 5-year average.

Key data

Market cap: 6.3B
Enterprise value: 13.9B
52-week range: 43.81 – 52.64
3-year range: 31.67 – 57.80
Dividend yield: 1.93%
Beta (5 years): 0.34
Shares outstanding: 125M
Next earnings: Dec 10, 2026

About the company

Empire Company Limited is engaged in the business of food retailing, through its wholly owned subsidiary Sobeys Inc. (Sobeys), and related real estate. The Company's segments include Food retailing, and Investments and other operations. Sobeys owns, affiliates or franchises more than 1,600 stores in all 10 provinces under retail banners that include Sobeys, Safeway, IGA, Foodland, FreshCo, Thrifty Foods, Farm Boy, Longo’s and Lawtons Drugs, operates grocery e-commerce under the banners Voila, Voila par IGA and ThriftyFoods.com, and operates and/or supplies more than 350 retail fuel locations. The Investment and other operations segment consist of investments in Crombie REIT, real estate partnerships and various other corporate operations. Crombie REIT is focused on owning, operating and developing a portfolio of grocery and pharmacy-anchored shopping centers, freestanding stores and mixed-use developments primarily in Canada's urban and suburban markets.

Growth and profitability fiscal year ends April 30

Growth and profitability by fiscal year
	2026	2025	2024	2023	2022	5Y avg
Revenue (mil)	31,950	31,277	30,733	30,478	30,162	–
Revenue growth	2.2%	1.8%	0.8%	1.0%	6.7%	2.5%
EPS (basic, normalized)	3.24	2.98	2.74	2.80	2.80	–
EPS growth	8.7%	8.8%	−2.1%	0.0%	–	–
Gross margin	27.1%	26.8%	26.3%	25.6%	25.4%	26.2%
Net margin	0.6%	2.2%	2.4%	2.3%	2.5%	2.0%
ROE	3.8%	13.0%	13.8%	13.5%	15.9%	12.0%

Balance sheet, last quarter
Cash & short-term investments (mil)	320
Current ratio	0.82x
Long-term debt (mil)	6,936
Net debt (mil)	7,612
Total equity (mil)	5,115
Net debt / equity	1.49x
Net debt / EBITDA	3.04x

Estimates and valuation

Consensus estimates and implied multiples
	Sales (mil)			EBITDA (mil)			EPS
Fiscal year	Mean est.	Growth	EV/Sales	Mean est.	Growth	EV/EBITDA	Mean est.	Growth	P/E
2026 actual	31,950	+2.2%	0.4x	2,500	+3.6%	5.5x	3.24	+8.7%	15.5x
2027	32,916	+3.0%	0.4x	2,644	+5.8%	5.2x	3.59	+10.7%	14.0x
2028	33,889	+3.0%	0.4x	2,742	+3.7%	5.1x	3.87	+7.8%	13.0x
2029	34,423	+1.6%	0.4x	2,756	+0.5%	5.0x	4.06	+4.9%	12.4x

Estimate revisions

Change in consensus estimates over 1, 3 and 6 months
	Sales				EPS
Fiscal year	Estimate (mil)	1M	3M	6M	Estimate	1M	3M	6M
2027	32,916	+0.1%	−0.1%	+0.2%	3.59	+0.3%	−0.2%	+0.3%
2028	33,889	+0.2%	−0.2%	0.0%	3.87	+0.2%	−0.5%	−1.2%
2029	34,423	0.0%	−1.2%	–	4.06	0.0%	−3.3%	–

Earnings surprises EPS beat in 3 of the last 4 quarters

Reported results versus consensus, last 10 fiscal quarters
Quarter ended	Apr 2024	Jul 2024	Oct 2024	Jan 2025	Apr 2025	Jul 2025	Oct 2025	Jan 2026	Apr 2026	Jul 2026
Sales reported (mil)	7,412	8,137	7,778	7,725	7,637	8,258	7,995	7,890	7,807	8,475
Sales mean (mil)	7,398	8,061	7,879	7,663	7,652	8,284	7,957	7,907	7,809	8,543
Surprise	+0.2%	+0.9%	−1.3%	+0.8%	−0.2%	−0.3%	+0.5%	−0.2%	0.0%	−0.8%
EPS reported	0.63	0.90	0.73	0.62	0.74	0.91	0.69	0.72	0.94	1.04
EPS mean	0.62	0.88	0.66	0.62	0.71	0.88	0.70	0.71	0.87	1.04
Surprise	+1.1%	+2.1%	+10.4%	+0.5%	+4.2%	+3.6%	−1.6%	+1.4%	+7.7%	+0.2%

Peer comparison Food & Drug Retailing

Peers in the same industry group, by market capitalization
Company	Market cap	Net debt/EBITDA	Net margin	P/B	FY1 P/E	FY2 P/E	FY1 EV/EBITDA	FY2 EV/EBITDA
EMP.A Empire Company Limited	6.3B	3.04x	0.6%	2.20x	14.0x	13.0x	5.2x	5.1x
L Loblaw Companies Ltd	79.5B	2.09x	4.0%	7.28x	26.9x	24.0x	12.6x	11.8x
WN George Weston Limited	40.2B	3.55x	1.6%	8.91x	22.8x	19.5x	8.7x	8.1x
CASY Caseys General Stores Inc	35.2B	1.29x	4.1%	6.14x	31.8x	29.0x	16.6x	15.3x
MRU METRO INC.	20.2B	2.36x	4.6%	2.92x	21.3x	17.9x	12.3x	11.0x
MAKSY Marks and Spencer Group PLC	16.0B	–	–	–	13.0x	11.9x	–	–
Mean		2.47x	3.0%	5.49x	21.6x	19.2x	11.1x	10.3x
Median		2.36x	4.0%	6.14x	22.0x	18.7x	12.3x	11.0x

Technical analysis

1M+5.2%
3M−1.9%
1Y+5.2%
3Y+43.9%

Financial statements in millions of CAD

Income statement in millions of CAD, fiscal years

Income statement, Empire Company Limited, fiscal years, most recent first
	2026	2025	2024	2023	2022	2021
Total revenue	31,950	31,277	30,733	30,478	30,162	28,268
Cost of revenue	23,286	22,895	22,662	22,685	22,503	21,069
Gross profit	8,664	8,382	8,070	7,793	7,660	7,199
Selling, general & administrative expenses	6,862	6,654	6,354	6,147	5,978	5,508
Research & development	–	–	–	–	–	–
Depreciation/amortization	598	583	564	542	496	443
Interest expense (income), operating	−65.0	−68.0	−51.1	−87.7	−93.1	−51.4
Unusual expense (income)	642	−61.0	−75.1	−25.1	−68.6	16.7
Other operating expenses	41.0	−15.0	−32.2	−16.1	−16.7	−15.9
Operating income	586	1,289	1,311	1,232	1,364	1,300
Net interest income (expense)	−269	−285	−273	−258	−272	−259
Gain (loss) on sale of assets	–	–	–	–	–	–
Other non-operating income (expense)	−9.0	−9.0	−9.3	−9.2	−9.7	−10.4
Net income before taxes	308	995	1,028	965	1,082	1,030
Provision for taxes	62.0	249	266	238	270	266
Minority interest	−48.0	−46.0	−37.4	−41.7	−65.5	−62.7
Equity in affiliates	–	–	–	–	–	–
U.S. GAAP adjustment	–	–	–	–	–	–
Net income before extraordinary items	198	700	725	686	746	702
Extraordinary items	–	–	–	–	–	–
Net income	198	700	725	686	746	702
EBIT, normalized	1,163	1,172	1,185	1,120	1,202	1,265
EBITDA, normalized	2,329	2,290	2,253	2,150	2,168	2,109
Basic EPS, normalized	3.24	2.98	2.74	2.80	2.80	–

Balance sheet in millions of CAD, fiscal years

Balance sheet, Empire Company Limited, fiscal years, most recent first
	2026	2025	2024	2023	2022	2021
Assets
Cash & short-term investments	291	285	260	221	812	890
Receivables	976	843	863	859	681	698
Total inventory	1,919	1,833	1,772	1,743	1,592	1,500
Prepaid expenses	204	173	162	131	128	101
Other current assets	0	0	47.3	0	0	3.4
Total current assets	3,390	3,134	3,104	2,955	3,213	3,194
Property, plant & equipment	8,421	8,639	8,483	8,199	8,159	7,656
Goodwill	2,056	2,055	2,064	2,068	2,059	1,578
Intangibles	1,327	1,359	1,348	1,376	1,338	976
Long-term investments	859	882	846	869	832	736
Note receivable	582	636	601	587	549	544
Other long-term assets	445	314	344	431	444	490
Total assets	17,080	17,019	16,790	16,484	16,594	15,174
Liabilities
Accounts payable	–	–	–	–	–	–
Payable/accrued	3,024	3,122	3,035	3,029	2,989	2,874
Accrued expenses	–	–	–	–	–	–
Short-term debt	0	0	0	0	0	0
Current portion of long-term debt	831	822	699	665	1,090	537
Other current liabilities	273	152	158	164	160	77.1
Total current liabilities	4,128	4,096	3,891	3,858	4,240	3,488
Long-term debt	7,026	6,642	6,661	6,532	6,372	6,596
Minority interest	477	134	408	136	484	205
Other liabilities	446	737	489	757	506	511
Total liabilities	12,077	11,609	11,449	11,283	11,602	10,801
Shareholders' equity
Preferred stock	–	–	–	–	–	–
Common stock	1,572	1,660	1,779	1,915	2,026	1,970
Additional paid-in capital	94.0	30.0	56.2	50.1	37.2	25.2
Retained earnings (accumulated deficit)	3,334	3,697	3,484	3,216	2,914	2,363
Treasury stock	–	–	–	–	–	–
Other equity	3.0	23.0	21.1	19.6	14.0	14.6
Total equity	5,003	5,410	5,341	5,200	4,992	4,373
Total liabilities & shareholders' equity	17,080	17,019	16,790	16,484	16,594	15,174

Cash flow statement in millions of CAD, fiscal years

Cash flow statement, Empire Company Limited, fiscal years, most recent first
	2026	2025	2024	2023	2022	2021
Operating activities
Net income	246	746	763	728	811	764
Depreciation, depletion & amortization	1,168	1,120	1,071	1,031	967	844
Deferred taxes	–	–	–	–	–	–
Non-cash items	985	474	425	475	488	531
Changes in working capital	−488	−213	−184	−628	−159	−280
Cash from operations	1,911	2,127	2,074	1,605	2,107	1,860
Investing activities
Capital expenditures	−831	−777	−799	−758	−780	−659
Other investing cash flows	281	180	190	73.0	−111	157
Cash from investing	−550	−597	−608	−685	−891	−502
Financing activities
Financing cash flow items	−340	−351	−401	−319	−320	−311
Cash dividends paid	−203	−192	−182	−170	−157	−139
Issuance (retirement) of debt, net	–	–	–	–	–	–
Other financing cash flows	−812	−962	−845	−1,023	−817	−1,024
Cash from financing	−1,355	−1,505	−1,428	−1,512	−1,294	−1,475
Foreign exchange effects	–	–	–	–	–	–
Net change in cash	6.0	25.0	38.3	−591	−78.2	−118
Free cash flow	1,080	1,350	1,276	848	1,327	1,200

Disclaimer

The financial data presented in this report is delayed and obtained from sources QDD Research believes to be reliable, including stock exchanges, SEDAR, and EDGAR. However, no representation or warranty is made as to the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of the information. QDD Research accepts no liability for any errors, omissions, or financial losses arising from the use of this data.

This report is generated using a fully systematic and quantitative approach. All factor scores and the overall quant rating (ranging from D to A+) are derived from algorithmic models and are based solely on objective financial metrics. These scores are intended for informational purposes only and should not be interpreted as investment advice or a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any securities.

QDD Research is not a registered investment advisor or broker-dealer and does not provide personalized financial advice. The content is not tailored to the specific investment goals, financial situation, or risk profile of any individual investor. We strongly encourage readers to consult with a licensed broker or investment advisor before making any investment decisions based on the information contained in this report.

Live quote provided by TradingView. Report data updated Nov 1, 2026 after market close.