Morning, ladies and gentlemen. I'd like to welcome you to this annual general meeting of shareholders of The North West Company. My name is Sandy Riley, and I'm a Director of The North West Company and Chairman of the Board. We're pleased to host this meeting through a virtual meeting platform accessible to all our shareholders, regardless of physical location, to participate, submit questions, and vote. I'm gonna act as Chairman at today's meeting, and I'm now gonna call the meeting to order. Good morning, and welcome again. Before we begin, I'd also like to introduce the people joining me at the head table. To my left is Edward Kennedy, President and Chief Executive Officer and Director. Also at the head table is Amanda Sutton, Vice President, Legal and Corporate Secretary. I appoint Amanda Sutton to act as Secretary for the meeting.
Nazim Nathoo of AST Trust Company (Canada) will act as scrutineer for this meeting. I'll now ask Amanda Sutton to read a notice regarding forward-looking statements.
Certain information presented today may constitute forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect North West's current expectations, estimates, projections, and assumptions. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks, which could cause actual performance and financial results in the future to vary materially from those contemplated in the forward-looking statements. For additional information on these risks, please see North West's annual information form under the heading Risk Factors. This presentation will also refer to EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, and Adjusted Net Earnings, which are not recognized financial measures under International Financial Reporting Standards. North West's method of calculating these measures may differ from other companies and may not be comparable to measures used by other companies. For further information, please see North West's annual report under the heading Non-GAAP Financial Measures.
Thank you. I'd now ask the secretary to report on attendance.
Mr. Chairman, I have been advised by the scrutineers that there are present by proxy a sufficient number of persons holding a sufficient number of shares entitled to vote at a meeting to constitute a quorum. As there is a quorum present, the meeting is regularly called and properly constituted for the transaction of business.
A notice calling a meeting, together with a form of proxy, management information circular and proxy statement, an annual report containing the financial statements of The North West Company Inc. for the year ended January 31, 2021, and the related auditor's report were provided to each intermediary and registered shareholder of record on the record date for the meeting. We've received an affidavit of mailing from AST Trust Company (Canada), North West's transfer agent, confirming the mailing of the notice. Voting on the items of business that come before today's meeting is being conducted by a poll via a single electronic ballot that's now available on the web portal. Only registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders are able to vote or ask questions. Voting can only be done through a virtual voting platform on the webcast.
If you're a registered shareholder or proxy holder and wish to vote, click the voting icon at the top of the webcast page. Voting can be completed at any time from now until the polls are closed at the end of the formal portion of this meeting. If you have already voted in advance of the meeting and do not wish to change your vote, you don't need to vote again during the meeting. The polls are now open. Questions can also be submitted through the webcast platform. If you're a registered shareholder or proxy holder and wish to ask a question, click the question icon at the top of the webcast page, type in your question in the text box at the bottom of the messaging screen, and then click the send button.
If your question relates to a specific motion, please start your question by identifying that motion. We will respond to questions relating to specific motions before the closing of the polls, and we'll save all other questions for the general question and answer session at the end of the presentations following the formal portion of the meeting. We will receive the questions and read them out in order for everyone to be aware of the questions being addressed. If we have a number of questions that are the same or very similar, we will consolidate the questions, and we'll endeavor to address all general questions. However, please note that due to time constraints, we may not be able to do so. If you have questions, we encourage you to submit them now. Questions can be submitted throughout the meeting. Now, a bit about the format for today's meeting.
We had a bit of practice at this last year because this is the second year in a row that we've had to go virtual because of the COVID crisis. I'm gonna have a few initial remarks that I wanna make on behalf of our board. We'll then deal with the formal requirements of the meeting, and finally, Edward will provide his insights on all of the important facets of our business performance and potential, including our people and the communities we serve. Today, I want to focus my comments on those latter two areas, beginning with the extraordinary efforts of North West's people and the leaders in the communities in which we operate. We've been living through some of the most extraordinary times in our lives.
This time last year, we were looking forward to the summer and what we hoped would be the end of the major global lockdown caused by COVID-19. Having spent the better part of four months in isolation from each other, it looked as if we would be able to return to our old lives. Well, here we are, 12 months later, having suffered through several waves of COVID and prolonged periods of lockdown, hoping again that the summer and widespread vaccinations will bring us back to some state of normalcy.
It feels a lot like Groundhog Day. Over the last 16 months, The North West Company has been focused on meeting its fundamental obligations to the communities in which we operate by ensuring that there was a continuing supply of food and other staples for our customers, who, because of lockdowns, had to rely on their community store for almost everything of importance. Our employees worked long hours, oftentimes in very difficult and stressful circumstances, to ensure that our communities were well-served and that they, I should say, performed magnificently. On behalf of the board of the company and its shareholders, I wanna thank all Nor'westers for their commitment to their communities, their efforts and ingenuity, which often went way beyond what anyone could have expected, and their enterprising spirit, which is the core characteristic that has defined our company for literally centuries.
I also want to acknowledge and compliment the efforts taken by Indigenous community leadership to manage the impact of COVID-19. They provided examples of calm, thoughtful, and resolute guidance, which, hopefully, others will learn from. The challenges that most of our communities in Canada have faced this year have been punctuated by recent revelations with respect to the children who died while in residential schools. What happened to these children was every parent's worst nightmare, which is why it has occasioned such a visceral reaction amongst all Canadians, not just Indigenous Canadians, but all Canadians. At North West, we're listening to better understand the impact these revelations are having within the many Indigenous communities we serve.
We know that each community will decide how best to move forward in the wake of this truly shocking news, but we wanna play our part to help memorialize these children and the circumstances of their lives and deaths. At the appropriate time, and with the guidance of indigenous communities, we are committed to help lead efforts within the private sector to provide assistance in any meaningful way possible. As an immediate step, within North West, we commit to accelerating the awareness and education of our non-indigenous associates on indigenous history and on issues especially related to the specific communities we serve. In addition to the challenges that we faced this year, it's also been a year of change on our board and at the helm of our company.
I want to begin by acknowledging that Wendy Evans, who's been a director of The North West Company since 2005, will be stepping down this meeting. Wendy served for many years as chair of our Governance and Nominating Committee, where she's led our board's efforts in developing what we believe are groundbreaking ESG practices. Eric L. Stefanson, who's been a director since 2012, will also be stepping down at this meeting. Eric served for many years as chair of our Audit Committee and is the person who is principally responsible for developing our board's risk management oversight practices. It's been a pleasure for all of us to serve with both Wendy and Eric, in addition to thanking them, we all want to wish them the very best in the years ahead.
The biggest change for our company is the retirement of our Chief Executive Officer, Edward Kennedy. Edward has been CEO for nearly 25 years, which in itself is noteworthy. Someone once said to me that CEOs have a life expectancy which could be measured in dog years, i.e., 1 year as a CEO is the equivalent of 7 normal working years, which, if true, means that Edward has been the CEO of this firm for the equivalent of over 150 years. It's been an extraordinary career, marked by remarkable growth and great financial results. During Edward's tenure, the company's annual revenues have grown from CAD 590 million to over CAD 2.4 billion. EBITDA increased from CAD 59 million to over CAD 300 million.
Over the same period, and this is really remarkable, compound annual total shareholder returns were 15.6%. That's an average of 15.6% per year over a 25-year period, a large part of which came in the form of CAD 1.2 billion in dividends paid to common shareholders. Edward was responsible for our successful expansion into Alaska and our acquisitions of Cost-U-Less in the Caribbean and Road Town in the BVI, and our expansion into airline, telehealth, and financial services businesses which have played and will continue to play very important roles in our business model. His leadership in the last 18 months during the COVID crisis has been exemplary.
Edward has been, in many ways, the perfect person to lead this company because of his values and his perspectives, which started with his upbringing in The Pas, Manitoba, a northern community with deep connections to First Nation and Métis peoples. Growing up with a Hudson's Bay northern store in his community, Edward was a customer of our company before becoming an executive. He entered into our business knowing the history of The North West Company better than most. He especially understood its importance to the many indigenous communities that we serve. Because of that, he has been able to build on a unique community store culture, balancing the requirements that we have to deliver fair shareholder returns with our need to support communities as they grow and develop. He's left us all with a legacy of wisdom and insights, which will be invaluable in the years ahead.
All of us on the board want to thank him for his many years of extraordinary service and to wish him, Stella, and their family the very best as he approaches the next chapter in his life. Edward will be missed, but change brings opportunity, and we're delighted that Dan McConnell will be assuming the position of President and Chief Executive Officer of The North West Company. Dan has spent 19 years with The North West Company, most recently as President of our international operations. We know he'll bring a passion, an enthusiasm, and a winner's mentality to his new role. We all look forward to writing an exciting new chapter in our company's storied history under Dan's leadership. The board looks forward to welcoming Dan as CEO and a Director on August 1st.
I'd now like to introduce all the members of the board of directors who will be standing for election this year. Brock Bulbuck is from Winnipeg and is the Executive Chair of Boyd Group Services Inc. Deepak Chopra is from Toronto and is the Past President and Chief Executive Officer of Canada Post. Frank Coleman is from Corner Brook, Newfoundland, and runs one of Canada's last remaining regional food retailers based in Western Newfoundland and Labrador, not surprisingly known as Coleman Foods. Stewart Glendinning is from Ocean Ridge, Florida, and is the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Tyson Foods. Stewart also serves as the Chair of our Governance and Nominating Committee. Annalisa King is from Vancouver and is the Past Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Best Buy Canada, and she's now the Chair of our Audit Committee.
Vi Konkle is from Fenwick, Ontario, and is the Past President and Chief Executive Officer of The Brick Ltd. She's the Chair of our Compensation Committee. Jennefer Nepinak is from Winnipeg and is the Associate Vice-President of Indigenous Engagement at The University of Winnipeg. Victor Tootoo is from Iqaluit, Nunavut, and is the Vice-President of NVision Insight Group. Victor has an extensive and diverse career in business and consulting throughout Northern Canada and is involved in a number of successful local businesses and has a CPA-CGA designation. Of course, there's our Chief Executive Officer, Edward Kennedy, who will be a Board Member until Dan McConnell steps in as Chair, as CEO, and myself, Sandy Riley. We're recommending that you reelect the aforementioned directors to our board.
With those comments, I would now like to move to the formal part of the meeting. The first item of business is the presentation of the consolidated financial statements of The North West Company Inc. for the year ended January 31, 2021, and the related auditor's report. A copy of the financial statements was made available to all shareholders with the notice of meeting. Shareholders are not asked to take any action regarding the financial statements, but if any shareholder has questions relating to them, I would request they be asked later in the meeting after Edward completes his presentation. The next item of business is the election of directors of The North West Company for the ensuing year. Apart from the directors listed in the management information circular and proxy statement for this meeting, no additional individuals have been nominated for election.
I will now entertain a motion with respect to election of directors. Kevin Wasiluk, Canadian Operations Controller, has been asked to place before the meeting the names of those persons proposed to be nominated for the election, for election as directors, and Pam Pronek, International Operations Controller, has been asked to second the motion. Kevin?
I move that each of the persons whose names are listed under the heading Election of Directors in the Management Information Circular, who are Sanford Riley, Brock Bulbuck, Deepak Chopra, Frank Coleman, Stewart Glendinning, Edward Kennedy, Annalisa King, Violet Konkle, Jennefer Nepinak, and Victor Tootoo, be elected as directors of The North West Company Inc. for the ensuing year or until their successors are appointed.
Thank you, Kevin.
I second the motion.
Thank you, Pam. Please cast your votes before we move on to the next item. We'll now proceed with the appointment of auditors and the authorization of the Board of Directors to fix their remuneration. Kevin, may I have a motion, please, to appoint the auditors of The North West Company. Pam, would you please second that motion?
I move that PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP be appointed as the auditors of The North West Company Inc. to hold office until the next annual meeting of shareholders or until their successors is duly appointed and that the board of directors be authorized to fix their remuneration.
Thank you, Kevin.
I second the motion.
Thank you, Pam. Please cast your votes before we move on to the next item. Okay, we're now going to consider a non-binding advisory vote on the approach to executive compensation, which was outlined in the 2021 Management Information Circular that was previously sent to all shareholders. Kevin, may I have a motion regarding the compensation of North West executives, please?
I move that on an advisory basis, and not to diminish the roles and responsibilities of the board, that the shareholders accept the approach to executive compensation disclosed in The North West Company's 2021 Management Information Circular delivered in advance of this 2021 annual general meeting of shareholders.
Thank you, Kevin.
I second the motion.
Thanks, Pam. We'll now take a short pause to answer any motion-specific questions. We'll have a chance to answer the more general questions later. Any motion-specific questions that have been submitted and to permit any registered shareholder or proxy holder who's not yet already done so to record their votes on the motions before the meeting. No questions. Surprise. Okay. Okay, having received no questions, I will close the polls in 30 seconds. It's the beauty of online voting. The polls are now closed. Thank you. I've now received the preliminary scrutineers report. With respect to the election of directors, I'm advised by the scrutineers that each of the proposed nominees has been duly elected. With respect to the resolutions to appoint the auditors and the non-binding executive compensation, I'm advised by the scrutineers that these resolutions have been duly carried.
The detailed results of this meeting will be announced in a press release and also included in a voting report to be filed on SEDAR as soon as practical after this meeting. Ladies and gentlemen, we have now completed the formal part of the meeting. On behalf of management and the board of directors, I'd like to thank you for your participation. And now, we're gonna have a little video, before I ask Edward to make a few words.
As the pandemic took effect, there was a need for a vast array of products for our communities and various organizations. Our commercial sales team worked internally and with our vendor partners to source and provide goods.
Spirits are on the rise as Split Lake continues to make progress in furthering itself from a recent spike in positive cases. When cases began to increase, proactive measures were taken by the chief and council in coordination with the pandemic team and Northern staff to help keep the community appropriately supplied. What you have been seeing is the tandem effort of receiving bulk grocery orders by the Northern staff and members of the pandemic task force. On the Northern front, we pivoted to taking grocery orders via telephone and door-side delivery fulfilled by the pandemic team. Since then, restrictions have begun to ease down, and we are slowly but surely getting out of the woods. It was probably the most community-engaging work I've had the opportunity to do.
While I hope we don't have to do this again, I'm also very proud of the work we were able to accomplish together.
2020 has been a really challenging year for all of our store teams. We've met really every challenge through the year in so many incredible ways. Many of our Northern communities have faced some of the worst community-level outbreaks of COVID that we've seen anywhere. Our stores have remained open, our communities have been served. It's really all the result of the commitment of our people.
When customers come in, they clean their hands. We make sure they have a proper mask. We take their temperature. Keeping the store sanitized is a big job. Every hour, we go around and clean all the commonly touched areas. Staff and customers are required to wear masks at all times. Cashiers are responsible for the sanitization of their tills. We have ample supplies of PPE for customers to purchase and take home. We plan to continue providing for our customers at a level that exceeds their expectations.
The USDA Farmers to Families Food Box Program started as a result of the COVID pandemic. Alaska was hit hard like everywhere else in the country, Alaska is a bit of a different place. It is hard to get fresh food to small, remote, and isolated communities across Alaska. You have to get the food up to the state via barge, then on a truck, then on a plane, then on a smaller plane before it can actually get to the end recipient. Alaska Commercial Company is transporting over 27,000 boxes of fresh food per month to 115 villages across the state. AC has been able to expand our reach from 27 communities to 130 communities over the past 4 months.
Every new challenge we faced through the year was met with new levels of accomplishment. The efforts by our store teams has built a strong level of community trust that will serve us well as we move forward.
When the pandemic arrived in the communities, the provision of healthcare to our patients was compromised. Access to urgent care was limited, health centers experienced staffing shortages, and our most vulnerable patients deferred their healthcare needs due to mandatory quarantine and community closures. Recognizing the impact of not seeking care, a solution was necessary to fill this gap. Through telehealth, the clinician can connect directly with the patient from the patient's home directly to the location of the physician, wherever that may be. Leveraging our Amdocs physicians, virtually, we can conduct assessments, create treatment plans, write prescriptions, and initiate referrals. The patient response to date has been very positive, stating it's an easy, accessible way to quality care when they need it. Telehealth is an integral part of the healthcare delivery system, and we will continue to focus on expanding the services it can provide.
2020 was a challenging year for everyone. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the corporate development team had to pivot and shift to company-wide priorities, food security, and the safety of customers and staff. Our team immediately began contacting community leaders and government officials across Canada, Alaska, the South Pacific, and the Caribbean to see how we could help. It was during these discussions, it became apparent there was an appetite for development. In fact, new opportunities would arise, translating to solidifying numerous mutually beneficial arrangements, including partnerships, joint ventures, acquisitions, and new purpose-built stores. Although 2020 was a year of unparalleled challenges, the corporate development team was able to further solidify relationships while driving growth. I'm proud of what the team was able to accomplish during these most challenging times. These efforts have set us on a road for continued success.
With the relationships we built in 2020, we have learned that we have an opportunity to play an even larger role going forward by working closely with communities.
That video is a great example of why I'm so proud to be associated with The North West Company and with all Nor'westers. It's been a remarkable year. I'm now gonna invite Edward Kennedy to say a few words about the past year. We'd be pleased to answer any questions you may have after Edward's presentation is concluded. You're welcome to submit any questions at any time during the presentations by typing in the question in the box displayed on the screen and clicking the button Submit. Edward.
Good morning, thank you, Sandy, for your kind remarks about me and about our company and our communities and customers. The quote at the beginning of the video is worth repeating, last year and still counting has been the most intensely active and reactive period in my time as CEO. Although the video showed you pandemic activities that were pretty common to retailers everywhere, it also gave you a sense of the unique challenges faced by us in the communities that we serve when you overlay distance, lack of scale, limited health services, and things like crowded living conditions. Today, my agenda, I want to cover the pre, during and post-pandemic work at The North West Company.
Again, this year for the sake of time and not to put John King out of a job, I'm gonna cover the financial results. I just wanna note, last year, I gave John a hard time for having a golf shirt. He's now dressed to the nines. He's got his suit back on, but I'm gonna cover off the Q1 financials. As I mentioned in my annual message, last year started with a solid but a very different playbook, based on what unfolded. True to the saying that no plan survives first contact, our first contact was getting hit hard by the realities of the pandemic. In the weeks before the pandemic, we were already pretty busy.
We had taken four major steps to grow our core retail market share and the free time to focus on complementary business opportunities at both acquisitions and organic. First was the sale of our Giant Tiger stores, followed by setting up reciprocal supply agreements with GTSL. Next was the streamlining of our Canadian administration cost structure and then starting to put that savings into lower price investments in Northern Canada. The first three were well underway, just literally days before mid-March when the COVID, the pandemic, really took hold. That would have made by themselves a busy year, at least on the Canadian side of our business. I point this out as an example of work that simply couldn't stop when COVID arrived and which required our people to make a lot quicker decisions on all fronts.
The GT store divestiture did close on July 5th, we successfully disposed of all but one of the stores that wasn't part of that arrangement, in terms of selling leases. Operating stores that are slated for closure is always difficult and even more so during COVID-19 with the pandemic restrictions. Among many acknowledgments, I wanna highlight the outstanding work of our Giant Tiger store team during this transition. The product supply agreements with Giant Tiger were put in place throughout 2021. They had two main streams. One was to optimize our joint food procurement cost. And the second was to convert 70% of our smaller ticket general merchandise to Giant Tiger product.
These were examples of very resilient work conducted by two separate companies who had landed on their plate a whole bunch of other, COVID-induced priorities, but they still got their work done. Our administrative cost reduction target of CAD 17 million was achieved. Some affected roles extended out later in the year due to our surge in business volumes, and some was offset by even lower travel costs due to COVID restrictions. We started to invest cost savings into food pricing. We paused after about, CAD 3 million in 30 stores when the noise created by COVID demands, and other uncertainties made it impossible to determine the impact of the pricing side of the equation. As we get more insight, into COVID pre and post, during shopping behaviors, we plan to return to this initiative.
Before speaking about our pandemic performance, it's important to note the community response. The pandemic continues to impact people and regions around the world unequally, and communities that we serve are within the most vulnerable populations. Given their conditions physically and other health determinants, worst-case scenarios are very concerning and potentially catastrophic. As noted by Sandy and Mike Beaulieu in the video, the fact these have been largely avoided is a testament to the control measures put in place by communities and the united front they have taken against the pandemic. Although we're far from being in the clear, as just seen this week with the outbreak of the Delta variant in Fort Albany, where we have a Northern store in northeastern Ontario, despite a 94% uptake of first vaccines.
Our pandemic response, as you saw in the video, covered the areas of safety, product availability, community support, and our people, which all helped to produce exceptional sales. On safety, as you saw in the video, we took the lead from local authorities. Of nearly 60,000 store opening days, we were only closed for 400, and almost all of these were due to community lockdowns. Of our 6,900 associates, we were largely kept safe from COVID, with 117 cases identified and 10 traced to our workplaces. Unfortunately, these and other statistics do not reveal the mental health effect of working and living continuously now, it seems, with COVID transmission risk and the restrictions that continue in place. I'll talk more about this under our people.
Product availability was an immediate challenge, compounded by logistics and our size relative to larger retailers, urban retailers that have more influence over their suppliers. On non-perishable products, some of our stores had the good fortune of several months' supply of stock on hand from sealift and winter road. For the rest, it took a lot of persuasion by our buying teams, and the executive teams were required, including talking to governments, to ensure we had fair access to essential products on behalf of our customers. Speed was essential in all of our COVID reactions. A great example was the deployment of e-commerce solutions across all stores within 14 days, a tremendous feat by our IT team and a clear competitive advantage in the early days of the pandemic.
Community support is a natural focus of North West, and we're one of the very few private sector organizations with an in-community presence and employee base, so we know firsthand the needs and the resource gaps. We responded during the pandemic by increasing donations, as you saw, by CAD 5.5 million allocated to our Healthy Horizons Foundation, the United Way Food Relief, and causes that called on financially stable companies like North West to step forward. Beyond our pandemic performance, as with all of our work, continues to be our people. They handled massive increases in sales volumes, unit throughput, while dealing with new work protocols and constraints. Added to this was the stress of working or living under the risk of COVID transmission.
In these circumstances, we tried to recognize workloads and anxieties with flexible work practices, CAD 10 million in premium and special pay, relief teams, and the promotion of our employee assistance program. I'd like to say that we've done as much as possible, but we're still learning and adapting our people practices. I'm reassured by many recent conversations I've had with our store management, but I'm also very concerned about mental fatigue from ongoing restrictions on mobility and social interaction, especially within the close-knit fabric of the small communities that make up The North West Company's employee and customer base. It's hard to adequately sum up the impressive work of our people and give it enough recognition.
I can only say that our culture of dedication to community and the work performed by our people at all levels, but especially in our front lines, has been exemplary, and it's something I'm incredibly proud to be part of. The pandemic story is still being written, but the last highlight to mention is our sales. As shown here, sales were up from CAD 2.1 billion to just under CAD 2.4 billion. On a comparable basis, which excludes the Giant Tiger stores that were sold, our remaining 209 stores were up CAD 270 million in sales or 19%.
That's from the same 980,000 sq ft as the year before, equal to CAD 275 per sq ft in new sales. These are remarkable numbers, especially considering the operating conditions. Our enterprising spirit, as mentioned already, was firing on all cylinders, and equally, so was the spirit of collaboration between our company and the communities that we serve. Before going to our go-forward initiatives, I'd like to now take a financial break and review the highlights from this year's first quarter. Sales for the quarter were strong against the double-digit increases from last year and adjusting for the sale of the 41 stores that were in last year's numbers, the Giant Tiger stores.
On this basis, food was flat, but this compared to a 16% gain last year, which was driven by the initial, as we all remember, the pandemic shopping surge that took place from mid-March into April. General merchandise performed even better, up 23.9% on top of a 12% gain last year. International sales, led by general merchandise, have continued to show increases in the second quarter, helped by in-stock conditions, rebounding tourist economies, and very significant U.S. government support programs for income. In Canada, sales have softened but are well ahead of expectations and significantly above our 2019 levels.
Our reported EBITDA results shown here are unadjusted for several important items, I'm going to quickly move to the next slide, which shows last year's adjustments, the two big ones of CAD 9.4 million and CAD 5 million related to the Giant Tiger store closures and our support office restructuring. This year's adjustments consisting of an insurance gain from our Iqaluit warehouse fire a couple of years ago and share-based compensation on the negative side. On a net adjusted basis, if I haven't lost you yet, our comparable EBITDA numbers were up 26.5% to CAD 75.7 million. The main factors here were continued close-to-home spending, the international factors I mentioned, NSA's performance, a more profitable store mix with the exit of the Giant Tiger portfolio, and lower overhead costs tied to last year's reductions.
The same factors apply to net earnings. Again, here's the unadjusted slide which was reported. The next one showing the adjustments from net earnings increasing 54% to CAD 37.9 million from CAD 24.6 million in the first quarter last year. Looking at return of capital in the quarter, dividends were CAD 0.03 per share, up 9% from last year, will be assessed on a go-forward basis as we get more visibility on our sales performance into new normal conditions. The Normal Course Issuer Bid was started late last year, to date, we've acquired 336,000 shares at a cost of CAD 11.2 million. North West's financial capacity has always been solid.
High cash generation over the past 5 quarters has increased this to a record CAD 387 million on existing facilities and provides ample room for growth and/or capital returns to shareholders. Now I'd like to highlight initiatives that will be part of North West's post-pandemic growth together with new opportunities under Dan McConnell's leadership. First for us is to deepen our customer loyalty and our own get sales conviction. A lot of these seeds have been planted through the, over the last 16 months. The CAD 270 million sales increase in 2020 really opened our eyes and our customers' eyes to the larger role we can play in certain products and services. This included commercial sales, which grew from a few million CAD to over CAD 30 million.
As well, our sourcing relationship with Giant Tiger is perfectly timed to introduce a whole new range of products at more attractive price points. Finally, we plan to stay aggressive on big-ticket sales once we get past our current supply challenges as we see around the world with supply chain. Health products and services, as you saw in Laurie's comments, has opened up wider for us because of the pandemic. As noted, in-person services were already below urban standards and deteriorated further during the pandemic. Telehealth emerged as a permissible option under provincial and territorial regulations. In response, this quarter, we will complement our North West telepharmacy business, which is the largest of its kind in Canada, by introducing our WellnessConnect telemedicine platform and a teleoptometry service to the North.
These are both firsts for the North and will feature health professionals dedicated to communities, both virtually and in person, working in partnership with Northern Indigenous health organizations. Last year was also pivotal for NSA, our air cargo business. Our flagship ATR fleet set records for ATR efficiency and gave our stores a clear advantage over competing airlines that reduced their cargo service due to their dependency on passenger volumes. Utilization was enhanced by two next-gen innovations shown here. The introduction of double-decker trailers, another first in Canada that carries two full plane loads of cargo on two levels, and the use of lightweight plastic pallets after more than a few prototypes that don't crack and break down under weather conditions that each free up 37 pounds of space to strip product. This year, expanding our third-party cargo revenue is a focus for NSA.
It's enabled by these initiatives and by the acquisition of a wider ATR, a version of which is shown in the top photo, only the second of its type in Northern Canada, which will come into service in the fourth quarter of this year. New store concepts, physical and virtual, are the last growth stream I'd like to highlight of many. They include the first full year of our Anchorage dark store. It's hard to be photogenic when you're a dark store, but it's the top left photo of preparing orders, that's located in our Anchorage distribution center. It's the back end of our Span Elite online grocery service, which was again in the right place as e-commerce really surged in rural Alaska during the pandemic.
In the second half of this year, Alaska Commercial Company plans to add an e-commerce platform that uses our hub stores to ship to customers in surrounding villages that are too small to have their own AC store. Other store types shown here are our first airport store, the kiosk that was in the video, and our Motorsports store, here in Iqaluit, followed by a second one that we opened in Rankin Inlet earlier this year. Finally, shown in the right is Inuulisautinut Niuvirvik, which is the Inuktitut name of our new health and wellness store opening next month in Iqaluit. Inuulisautinut Niuvirvik is an exciting addition to the city of Iqaluit and to Baffin Island.
This store is a fresh, new face of North West, from the name of the store to the most complete lineup of specialty and health foods, together with a full suite of in-store and virtual health services, both pardon me, teleoptometry, telemedicine, and an in-store pharmacy. Before wrapping up, I'd like to comment on North West's social impact. For years, we've considered our business to be community retailing, I think you saw and you've seen for years and in the, in the flavor of the video, we're the company, the type of company where the community ranks side by side with our customer. We've done this for so long, I know for sure I have, that it's just part of who we are. Within each community, we are identified by our store, specifically our store team, led by our manager.
Generations of relationships, good and bad, but mostly good, are all wrapped into this identity. A poor management fit can chip away at goodwill, and a great one can take it to even higher levels. That's the world we live in. We also live in a world that's changed with stakeholder expectations and perceptions, especially outside of the communities that we serve, of what all companies do and the impact they make more broadly. For the last few years, we've worked within the many different and emerging ESG frameworks, and we certainly plan to continue to report using environmental, social, and governance measures. However, we've realized through this process that we have a more compelling, authentic story to tell that is also the story of the people and the communities that we serve and live in.
We've also noticed that there's an entire new group of stakeholders, including investors, who are more interested in these stories and what they say about real social impact that companies like North West make every day. There are a few photos on this slide that I think tell part of that story. There are also several more in the video that connect these dots. In the lower right is a community barbecue, which would not be exceptional, except that it's a key fundraising block that we're part of to help finance the rebuild of the church in St. Theresa Point, Manitoba, that was destroyed by fire, the church that was the center of community activities. In the top right is a photo of Siva Sekar on the right. He's our store manager at Pikangikum in northwestern Ontario.
He's been there for nine years. It would place him the, as the longest serving person from outside the community that's lived within the Pikangikum community in different types of jobs and fields. Siva uses his personal food allowance to help seniors who are running short at the end of the month, and he's a constant source of support for community events, including traumas that unfortunately have disproportionately affected Pikangikum over too many years. In this photo, he's being presented with an honorary jacket of the community by Dean Owen, Chief of Pikangikum First Nation. In the lower left is a photo of Nadine Parsons, the manager of our store in Moose Factory, Ontario, one of over 200 Indigenous managers and supervisors working within our Northern Canada stores.
Nadine is from Pimicikamak First Nation in Cross Lake and has spent part of her career with us in our Winnipeg support office before moving into store management. In the upper left is a check being presented under our Greener Tomorrow program. Over the last 10 years, we've presented more than CAD 3 million reinvested back into the community in community-prioritized initiatives. Again, I think that's the theme where our grassroots impact is sometimes hard to measure in greenhouse gas emissions, but does get counted and noticed, and we think we have more to say about that. When we shine the light more brightly on our social impact, we also know it will show room for improvement, and we need to raise our game inside the company and publicly. One important area is our commitment to Canada's northern Indigenous peoples.
This will happen, and has happened, but will continue to happen over the second half of this year and address the education that Sandy referred to, together with inclusion, equity, and investment in Indigenous-owned businesses. It's a very promising new path for us, and I'll miss very much not being directly part of it after my departure this summer. Now it really is time to wrap up. After 24 annual meetings, I should really have nothing left to say. Unfortunately, that's never been a problem for me, so I have a few words, but not a lot. I do want you to know that I'm deeply grateful for my role. North West is a company filled with good people doing good work, from our stores and distribution centers through to our offices, the executive team, and our board.
They've entrusted me to do my part, and I've been incredibly energized by this from the start to the very last day, I'm sure, of my entire career. With full confidence, I place the same trust in my successor, Dan McConnell. Dan and I have worked closely together for the last 20 years, and I know he will bring great energy and leadership to the North West team. Having been the CEO for so long, it's fair to say that it's probably all that I know how to do, and my wife, Stella, would actually insist on that observation, give or take a few sports. When I think of her and our children, Grace, Theresa, Simone, and Daniel, who've supported this journey for so long, I have to deeply thank them on behalf of North West as well as myself.
I've been able to be fully present as the CEO for, as Sandy said, many dog years. I owe this presence to my family's patience and understanding. I'll miss everyone. I'll stay engaged as a shareholder and advisor. I really look forward to seeing all of you together finally again in person at next year's AGM. Thank you.
Thank you, Edward. That's quite a ride. Okay, I'll wait to see if there are any questions, but I will now entertain any questions from shareholders.
Mr. Chairman, there are no questions.
Ha. Okay. Okay. Well, listen, everybody, let's hope next year that we're past all of this lockdown period and living more normal lives, and we can get together for an annual meeting in person. I wanna thank all of you for attending this virtual meeting, and as I said, I look forward to seeing you all again next year in person. Thank you very much.