July 25 (Reuters) - Canadian grocery and pharmacy chain Loblaw Cos Ltd's L.TO quarterly profit topped analysts' estimates on Wednesday, driven by higher food and drug same-store sales.
The company, which sells everything from grocery to wireless mobile connections, said food retail same-store sales grew 0.8 percent while drug retail same-store sales rose 1.7 percent.
The Brampton, Canada-based company, like other retail stores, has been refurbishing and expanding its online presence to carve out more market share in the face of stiff competition from companies such as Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O .
The company's net income fell to C$50 million ($38.07 million), or 13 Canadian cents per share, in the second quarter ended June 30, from C$359 million, or 90 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier. drop in quarterly profit was due to charges related to its acquisition of Canadian Real Estate Investment Trust and the sale of its gas pump operations.
Revenue fell 1.4 percent C$10.92 billion.
Excluding items, the company earned C$1.11 per share.
Analysts on average had expected the company to report a profit of C$1.09 per share on revenue of C$10.94 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
($1 = 1.3130 Canadian dollars)