(Adds second-quarter details, I/B/E/S estimates)
Sept 7 (Reuters) - Canadian dollar-store operator Dollarama Inc DOL.TO reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit for the ninth straight quarter, as customers on average spent more at its stores.
The Montreal-based company said the average checkout bill climbed 5.9 percent in the second quarter ended July 30.
Dollarama, which raised its product price ceiling to C$4 last year, said on Thursday that same-store sales rose 6.1 percent.
The company also raised its fiscal 2018 gross margin forecast to 38 percent to 39 percent, from 37.5 percent to 38.5 percent.
Dollarama's net income rose to C$131.8 million, or C$1.15 per share, from C$106.4 million, or 88 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier. items, the company earned C$1.15 per share, compared with analysts' average estimate of C$1.04, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Sales climbed 11.5 percent to C$812.5 million, but narrowly missed analysts' expectations of C$812.6 million.