A major infant formula recall by the U.S. manufacturer of Similac has exacerbated ongoing pandemic-related supply issues for some Canadian retailers, according to the Retail Council of Canada, while other stores have generally been able to keep shelves stocked, with shortages mostly temporary.
A number of powdered Similac products were recalled in February when four babies in the U.S. became very sick with a bacterial infection after consuming formula made at an Abbott Nutrition facility in Michigan. Two of the four hospitalized infants died. The plant was closed while the U.S. Food and Safety Administration (FDA) investigated.
The company, the largest manufacturer of infant formula in the U.S., said in a statement that “there is no evidence to link our formulas to these infant illnesses”. The plant remains shut for the investigation, however, and U.S. retail tracking company Datasembly said the out-of-stock percentage for baby formula in the U.S. reached 43 per cent for the first week of May.
While Canadian retailers have generally not experienced the bare shelves seen in many U.S. stores so far, some Canadian parents are nonetheless concerned about any potential impact, particularly as a number of products are specialty formulas made for infants with special dietary requirements.
“Some retailers that I have spoken to have seen an impact since last year because of those global supply chain challenges. But it’s definitely become considerably worse since the production facility closure and product recall,” said Michelle Wasylyshen, the national spokesperson for the Retail Council of Canada, in a phone interview on Friday.
Other retailers saw less of an impact, she said.
“The majority of that section within their stores, the baby formula is stocked. If there are any outages or shortages on the shelves, they should be temporary in nature for the most part.”
Wasylyshen said there was no clear answer on whether supply issues were regional because grocery retailers use different supply chains within the country and even within a province and there are different types of agreements and suppliers as well.
Walmart Canada told CTVNews.ca that there have been numerous ongoing global, industry-wide supply challenges with baby formula that have persisted for years and that it continued to work closely with its suppliers.
“Despite these challenges, including the most recent brand recall … [we] have secured a strong supply of baby formula across multiple brands and formats (concentrates, powder and ready-to-feed), to make available for sale both in-store and online,” said spokesperson Felicia Fefer in an email on Friday.
Costco and two of Canada’s three major grocery chains, Loblaws and Sobeys, had yet to respond at the time of publication. Metro declined to comment, saying the issue was not Metro specific.
STORE BRANDS, HEALTH CANADA ORDER HELPING
Despite concerns, there are differences between Canada and the U.S. that have helped diffuse some of the impact so far, Wasylyshen said.
All major grocery chains in Canada have strong “private label” or house brands, including for the infant formula category, she noted. While some of these store-brand versions of formula may also be manufactured by the same company as the major labels, most are sourced from competitors, giving shoppers more alternative options and preventing a two-fold impact.
In addition, Health Canada also approved an interim policy that temporarily allows other infant formula brands from the U.S., U.K., Ireland, and Germany to be imported into Canada. The policy is meant to “help prevent and mitigate shortages of these products in Canada in relation to the temporary closure of a large manufacturing plant in the United States, while ensuring a safe supply of these products to the vulnerable Canadians that rely on them” the document states.
The policy, which is in effect until June 30, also notes that safety assessments have been conducted by Health Canada for each product included in the list.
“Health Canada reviews infant formula submissions from manufacturers, including labelling and compositional requirements, before infant formula is sold in Canada,” Health Canada spokesperson Marie-Pier Burelle said in an email to CTVNews.ca on Friday.
“The products listed in Appendix A of the interim policy are imported from countries that have similar regulatory standards to Canada and are safe to use. These products would not normally be on the Canadian market because Health Canada has not received a request from manufacturers to conduct a pre-market regulatory review.”
The products might not meet some requirements like French and English labelling, for example, Wasylyshen said.
“They’re all still products that are safe and that are regulated, it’s just now they’re being temporarily allowed into Canada until we get a little bit more stability with the system,” she said, adding that this has been done in the past in situations where delivery of essential supplies was hampered.
CASCADING SUPPLY ISSUES
Ongoing global supply chain issues during the pandemic was already an issue prior to the recall, including global shortages of raw ingredients that go into making baby formula, Wasylyshen said. But complicating the current situation is that other suppliers are now beginning to experience issues due to the increased demand in other products that are available.
“It’s not a big problem yet, but the longer that we continue to see the Abbott shortage or Abbott products missing from the shelves, other suppliers could experience additional problems within a month or two – perhaps by summer, so that’s certainly something that we’ll want to keep our eye on.”
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
