alimentation couchetard inc shares rose in early trading wednesday after the company reported betterthanexpected profit and revenue in its fiscal first quarter as it navigated higher costs and inflationary conditions at 950 am et the shares were trading 24 higher at c5790 after markets closed tuesday the canadian convenience stores operator said net earnings rose to 8724 million or 85 cents a share in the three months to july 17 from 7644 million or 71 cents a share in the prioryear period on an adjusted basis net earnings per share were 85 cents beating the 73 cents a share consensus forecast of analyst polled on factset revenue jumped to 1866 billion for the quarter from 1358 billion beating analyst expectations for 1751 billion the company said that expenses grew by 94 but that due to efforts to mitigate costs and inflationary pressures normalized growth of expenses was 73 remaining below inflation