Canadian Tire said on Thursday it had laid off 3% of its full-time employees, in an effort to lower costs amid slowing demand due to persisting inflation.

The Toronto-based retailer joins a list of companies that have been reducing their workforce over the past year as they battle higher interest rates as well as costs linked to labor and supply chain.

Canadian Tire said it expects an annualized run-rate savings of about C$50 million ($36.31 million) as a result of the headcount reduction. But it also expects to take a charge of between C$20.0 million and C$25.0 million in the fourth quarter in relation to these actions.

The company has 34,665 total employees, of which 13,861 are full-time employees and 20,804 are part-time employees, according to its website.

It also reported a 1.6% drop in consolidated comparable sales as customers continue to shift to essentials and cut back on purchasing discretionary items such as athletic footwear and clothing.

Canadian Tire, whose shares were down 2% in afternoon trading, reported adjusted profit of C$2.96 per share, below LSEG estimates of C$3.29 per share.

It, however, beat third-quarter revenue expectations, as well as announced an additional C$200.0 million share repurchase program.

Late in October, Canadian Tire had said it was reviewing alternatives for its financial services arm and had bought back Scotiabank's 20% stake in the unit in a cash transaction valued at C$895 million.

($1 = 1.3771 Canadian dollars)

(This story has been corrected to show that headcount reductions have already taken place, in the headline and paragraph 1)

(Reporting by Granth Vanaik in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)