STELLARTON, NS, Feb. 7, 2022 /CNW/ - Empire Company Limited
("Empire" or the "Company") (TSX: EMP.A) today announced that its
fourth e-commerce customer fulfilment centre ("CFC") will be
located in the Greater Vancouver
Area of British
Columbia.
Voilà will launch its online grocery home delivery service for
customers in British Columbia in
2025. The CFC will benefit from new technology announced by Ocado
which comes with more efficiencies and a lighter environmental and
carbon footprint. For example, the new generation bots are five
times lighter and require less energy and power to achieve the same
throughput as the previous generation. Ocado has recently announced
a range of innovations, which will be available for Empire to
consider in future CFC automation and efficiency improvements.
"Ocado's central fulfillment and home delivery model is proving
to be the most efficient on the market while delivering the best
customer experience," said Sarah
Joyce, SVP, E-commerce, Empire. "Ocado's recent innovations
are making it even more efficient and sustainable – both for our
business and the planet. Their commitment to ongoing
innovation is one of the reasons we decided to partner with them.
With CFCs in Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and British
Columbia, we will reach 75 per cent of Canadian households
and approximately 90 per cent of grocery e-commerce spend. We
strongly believe that central fulfillment is the most profitable
solution at scale, and that Voilà will be the top e-commerce
grocery retailer in Canada."
The Company will lease the facility from Beedie, a third-party
industrial developer based in Western
Canada, who will build the site to Empire's
specifications.
Forward-Looking Information
This document contains forward-looking statements which are
presented for the purpose of assisting the reader to contextualize
the Company's financial position and understand management's
expectations regarding the Company's strategic priorities,
objectives and plans. These forward-looking statements may not be
appropriate for other purposes. Forward-looking statements are
identified by words or phrases such as "anticipates", "expects",
"believes", "estimates", "intends", "could", "may", "plans",
"predicts", "projects", "will", "would", "foresees" and other
similar expressions or the negative of these terms.
These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited
to, the Company's expectations regarding the timing relating to the
completion of the fourth CFC in B.C. which may be impacted by
supply of materials and equipment, permit and construction
schedules and performance of construction contractors.
By its nature, forward-looking information requires the Company
to make assumptions and is subject to inherent risks, uncertainties
and other factors which may cause actual results to differ
materially from forward-looking statements made. For more
information on risks, uncertainties and assumptions that may impact
the Company's forward-looking statements, please refer to the
Company's materials filed with the Canadian securities regulatory
authorities, including the "Risk Management" section of the fiscal
2021 annual MD&A.
Although the Company believes the predictions, forecasts,
expectations or conclusions reflected in the forward-looking
information are reasonable, it can provide no assurance that such
matters will prove correct. Readers are urged to consider the
risks, uncertainties and assumptions carefully in evaluating the
forward-looking information and are cautioned not to place undue
reliance on such forward-looking information. The forward-looking
information in this document reflects the Company's current
expectations and is subject to change. The Company does not
undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made
by or on behalf of the Company other than as required by applicable
securities laws.
ABOUT EMPIRE
Empire Company Limited (TSX: EMP.A) is a Canadian company
headquartered in Stellarton, Nova
Scotia. Empire's key businesses are food retailing, through
wholly-owned subsidiary Sobeys Inc., and related real estate. With
approximately $28.9 billion in annual
sales and $16.0 billion in assets,
Empire and its subsidiaries, franchisees and affiliates employ
approximately 134,000 people.
Additional financial information relating to Empire, including
the Company's Annual Information Form, can be found on the
Company's website at www.empireco.ca or on SEDAR at
www.sedar.com.
SOURCE Empire Company Limited