Three Year Summary

CONSOLIDATED INFORMATION – CONTINUING OPERATIONS(1,2)

       
For the years ended December 31(3)
($ millions except where otherwise indicated)
2008  2007  2006 
 

Operating Results

     
Sales 32,088  30,607  29,915 
EBITDA(4,5) 1,837  1,525  1,047 
Operating income(5) 1,192  875  376 
Interest expense and other financing charges(6) 360  175  263 
Net earnings (loss) from continuing operations 645  374  (47)
 

Financial Position

     
Working capital 1,165  380  671 
Fixed assets 8,542  8,453  8,615 
Goodwill 1,116  1,103  1,120 
Total assets 19,664  18,434  18,647 
Net debt(4) 3,569  4,889  5,201 
Shareholders’ equity 5,927  4,677  4,953 
 

Cash Flows

     
Cash flows from operating activities of continuing operations 985  1,368  1,280 
Free cash flow(4) (219) 379  (30)
Fixed asset purchases 807  658  1,006 
 

Per Common Share

($)
     
Basic net earnings (loss) from continuing operations 4.63  2.46  (0.78)
Basic net earnings 6.08  3.92  0.52 
Common dividend rate at year end 1.44  1.44  1.44 
Cash flows from operating activities of continuing operations 7.27  10.15  9.50 
Fixed asset purchases 6.25  5.10  7.80 
Book value 39.58  29.90  32.06 
Market value at year end 59.90  54.08  75.60 
 

Financial Ratios

     
EBITDA margin (%)(4) 5.7  5.0  3.5 
Operating margin (%) 3.7  2.9  1.3 
Return on average total assets (%)(4) 8.3  6.2  2.7 
Return on average common shareholders’ equity (%) 13.3  7.9  (2.4)
Interest coverage 3.1  4.4  1.3 
Net debt (excluding Exchangeable Debentures)(4) to equity 0.58  0.96  0.96 
Cash flows from operating activities of continuing operations to net debt (4) 0.28  0.28  0.25 
Price/net earnings (loss) from continuing operations ratio at year end 12.9  22.0  (96.9)
Market/book ratio at year end 1.5  1.8  2.4 
 
(1) For financial definitions and ratios refer to the Glossary.
(2) Certain prior years’ information was reclassified to conform with the current year’s presentation (see note 1 to the consolidated financial statements – PDF, 72 KB).
Results of Weston Foods’ U.S. fresh bakery business have been reclassified as discontinued operations.
(3) 2008 was a 53-week year.
(4) See non-GAAP financial measures (PDF, 53 KB).
(5) 2008 includes restructuring and other charges of $5 (2007 – $215) comprised of a charge of $6 (2007 – income of $7) recognized by Weston Foods and income of $1 (2007 – charge of $222) recognized by Loblaw (see note 4 to the consolidated financial statements – PDF, 48 KB). In addition, 2006 includes a Loblaw goodwill impairment charge of $800.
(6) 2008 includes non-cash charge of $11 (2007 – non-cash income of $141) related to the fair value adjustment of GWL’s forward sale agreement for 9.6 million Loblaw common shares (see note 5 to the consolidated financial statements – PDF, 46 KB).