Canadian retail conglomerate Empire’s FY24 second-quarter net sales grew, mainly attributed to positive growth in the discount business.

The Sobeys supermarket chain owner’s net sales rose 1.4 per cent year over year to C$7.75 billion while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) slid 0.7 per cent to $580.4 million.

Same-store sales growth decreased to 2.2 per cent. Excluding fuel, same-store sales went down to 2.0 per cent.

“While higher interest rates and overall economic uncertainty are impacting customer purchasing behaviors, the fundamentals of our business remain strong,” said Michael Medline, president and CEO at Empire.

“We continue to attract more customers in our stores, our promotions are constantly improving, and we continue to protect our margins. We have a clear strategy to deliver against and our team is executing with focus and precision.”

Gross margin increased to 25.8 per cent as net income declined 4.6 per cent to 181.1 million.

The company said that it incurred higher selling and administrative expenses primarily due to continued investment in the expansion of Farm Boy, Voila and FreshCo businesses, restructuring costs, wage rate increases, and higher depreciation and amortization driven by investments in operations.