Geoff McLarney

Groupe Patrick Morin has announced its first acquisition in the Ottawa-Gatineau area. Four renovation centres were purchased there for an undisclosed sum from P. Bonhomme Enterprises. The Ontario locations (in Rockland, Carleton Place, and Limoges) operate under the Bytown PRO banner, while the store in the Hull district of Gatineau, Que., is known as Bonhomme PRO.

The latest edition of Hardlines HR Advisor hits inboxes tomorrow. This issue looks at IKEA’s success in reducing staff turnover both in Canada and worldwide, insights shared at the latest Hardlines Conference by leadership expert Pierre Battah, and tips from Lee Valley Tools president and COO Jason Tasse (shown here). HR Advisor is monthly and it’s free: click here to sign up today!

Grocery giant Metro Inc. reported Q4 sales of $4.94 billion, down 2.6 percent from the comparable period of fiscal 2023. Same-store sales of food were up 2.2 percent for the quarter. Net earnings fell by 1.0 percent to $219.9 million. For the full fiscal year, net earnings declined by 8.5 percent to $931.7 million, while sales of $21.2 billion represented a 2.4 percent increase from fiscal 2023.

Investment in building construction rose 2.1 percent to $21.6 billion in September, StatCan reports, following a 0.2 percent increase in August. Spending in the residential sector increased 2.9 percent to $15.2 billion, with single-family investment up 4.0 percent to $7.0 billion. Year over year, investment in building construction grew 6.7 percent in September.

The family of Masatoshi Ito, the founder of 7-Eleven who died last year, has launched a bid to take parent company Seven & i holdings private. Their proposal adds a third option to the existing battle between company management’s plans to boost value and Canadian convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard’s buyout offer. According to Japan’s public broadcaster NHK, the family is seeking to raise more than US$51 billion through a special-purpose company to finance a deal.

TIMBER MART has promoted its regional director of member services for Western Canada, Phil Temple, to the role of director of member services, effective immediately. Temple has over 35 years of experience in management, sales, retail operations, and purchasing within the LBM industry.

The Canadian Home Products Trade Association and the Canadian Office Products Association held their 2024 joint conference last week at the Richmond Hill Country Club, just north of Toronto.

TIMBER MART announced it has promoted Damien Sohm, previously LBM procurement manager for Quebec, to the position of national procurement manager. In his new role, he will be responsible for all roofing and rigid-insulation program categories nationwide, in addition to managing the group’s relationships with vendors in Quebec and Atlantic Canada.

Ontario’s provincial government has a goal of building 1.5 million homes by 2031, and has set annual targets for housing starts to that end. For 2024 the goal was to break ground on 125,000 new homes. According to the Ontario Home Builders’ Association, however, the latest projections show the actual number of starts is down to 81,000.

Retail sales increased by 0.4 percent to $66.9 billion in September, according to new StatCan data. Sales were up in six of nine subsectors, led by increases at food and beverage retailers. In LBM and garden categories, sales for the month increased by 3.0 percent.