Dollarama Inc. reported a third-quarter profit of $138.6 million, up from $132.1 million in the same quarter last year, helped by a boost in sales.

The discount retailer says the profit amounted to 44 cents per diluted share for the 13-week period ended Nov. 3 compared with a profit of 40 cents per diluted share in the same quarter last year.

Sales in the quarter totalled $947.6 million, up from $864.3 million.

The improvement in sales came as comparable store sales, a key metric for retailers, grew 5.3 per cent.

Dollarama says the average transaction size grew 2.8 per cent, while the number of transactions rose 2.4 per cent.

Analysts on average had expected sales of $936.8 million and a profit of 45 cents per share, according to financial markets data firm Refinitiv.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 4, 2019