Loblaw announces new Chief Financial Officer

BRAMPTON, ON, Jan. 21 /CNW/ - Allan Leighton , President and Deputy Chairman of Loblaw Companies Limited ("Loblaw") (TSX: L) announced today that Sarah Davis , Executive Vice President, Finance, will become Chief Financial Officer of the Company effective May 5, 2010 at the Company's 2010 Annual Meeting of Shareholders.

Bob Vaux , currently Chief Financial Officer of both Loblaw Companies Limited and George Weston Limited, will continue as Chief Financial Officer of George Weston Limited.

"Sarah is an extremely qualified finance executive who has demonstrated her broader capabilities since joining our management team", said Mr. Leighton . "Her skill sets will be valuable to us as we complete our turnaround and beyond."

Upon accepting the appointment, Ms. Davis said, "I look forward to this opportunity and am pleased to be taking over the financial oversight of a company with such a solid financial position and strong balance sheet."

Over the next three months Ms. Davis and Mr. Vaux will be working on a smooth transition. Ms. Davis , who joined the Company in June of 2007, has more than twenty years of financial management experience gained from senior financial positions at publicly-traded Canadian companies in the telecommunications industries.

About Loblaw Companies Limited

Loblaw Companies Limited, a subsidiary of George Weston Limited, is Canada's largest food distributor and a leading provider of drugstore, general merchandise and financial products and services. Loblaw is one of the largest private sector employers in Canada . With more than 1,000 corporate and franchised stores from coast to coast, Loblaw and its franchisees employ over 139,000 full-time and part-time employees. Through its portfolio of store formats, Loblaw is committed to providing Canadians with a wide, growing and successful range of products and services to meet the everyday household demands of Canadian consumers. Loblaw is known for the quality, innovation and value of its food offering. It offers Canada's strongest control (private) label program, including the unique President's Choice(R), no name(R) and Joe Fresh Style(R) brands. In addition, the Company makes available to consumers President's Choice Financial(R) services and offers the PC(R) points loyalty program.

For further information: Loblaw Companies Limited, Inge van den Berg, Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs, [phone], [email protected] or [email protected]