Metro Inc. reported earnings results for the first quarter ended December 17, 2011. For the period, sales reached $2,711.7 million versus $2,622.5 million last year, an increase of 3.4%. EBITDA was $192.6 million, up 5.9% from $181.9 million for the same quarter last year. First-quarter EBITDA represented 7.1% of sales versus 6.9% last year. Gross margin as percentage of sales in the first quarter of 2012 was 18.1%, the same as in the corresponding quarter last year. Net earnings for the first quarter of 2012 were $103.7 million, an increase of 8.6% over net earnings of $95.5 million for the same quarter of 2011. Fully diluted net earnings per share rose 11.0% to $1.01 from $0.91 last year. Sales of the Adonis stores and distributor Phoenicia were included for eight weeks in the first quarter and contributed $33.0 million to the Corporation's sales. Same store sales were up 1.7%. The company experienced moderate inflation in its food basket in the first quarter which was, however, lower than in the previous quarter and lower than levels reported by Statistics Canada. On January 30, 2012, the Corporation's Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.215 per Class A Subordinate Share and Class B Share payable March 9, 2012, an increase of 11.7% over the dividend declared for the same quarter last year. On an annualized basis, this dividend represents approximately 22% of 2011 net earnings.