Empire Company Limited

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Empire Third Quarter 2020 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 you require assistance, please press star zero for the operator. This call is being recorded on Thursday, March 12, 2020. I would now like to turn the conference over to Katie Bryant, Director, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Joanna. Good afternoon, and thank you all for joining us for our third quarter conference call. Today we will provide summary comments on our results and leave as much time as we can for questions. This call is being recorded, and the audio recording will be available on the company's website at empireco.ca. There is a short summary document outlining the points of our quarter available on our website. Joining me on the call this afternoon are Michael Medline, President and Chief Executive Officer, Michael Vells, Chief Financial Officer, and Pierre St. Laurent, Chief Operating Officer, Full Service. Today's discussion includes forward-looking statements. We caution that such statements are based on management's assumptions and beliefs and are subject to uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially. I refer you to our news release and MD&A for more information on these assumptions and factors. I will now turn the call over to Michael Medline.

There's obviously one thing that is top of mind for all Canadians and everyone around the globe, Our thoughts are with all of those affected by the coronavirus and those concerned about their loved ones. This is truly unprecedented territory. We at Empire are doing everything possible to support and keep safe our customers, our communities, and our teammates across the country. While most of our efforts right now are focused on dealing with the virus, we have a job to do today to report on Q2, and we will now do so. Overall, we're pleased with our EPS of 46 cents. Excluding IFRS 16 accounting changes, it would have been 48 cents. One thing is for sure, we are much stronger now on the bottom line, notwithstanding any market conditions. It shows how well we can perform, but we're nowhere yet near our full earnings potential. This is a relatively complex quarter. We had a lot of moving pieces, and it really was a very different tale between the first 45 days of the quarter and the final 45 days of the quarter. Mike and I will do our best to simplify our results and highlight the key takeaways. I'll leave it to Mike to take you through some details of our quarter first, an update on Project Sunrise, and an update on our capital allocation, and then I'll say a few more words.