Shares in Maple Leaf Foods, the Canadian food group, rose today (24 February) as the company reported higher underlying profits for the fourth quarter of 2010 and the year as a whole.
Maple Leaf, which started on a five-year restrcuturing plan in 2010 that involved closing factories and streamlining its business to improve margins, booked improved adjusted operating earnings – although its net earnings fell for the year fell.
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For the fourth quarter of 2010, Maple Leaf’s adjusted operating earnings – which excludes restructuring charges and the impact of non-designated interest rate swaps – rose 24% to C$71.4m (US$72.6m). Over the year, adjusted operating earnings were up 13% at C$222m.
Maple Leaf’s net earnings for the fourth quarter rose to C$30.2m compared to C$21.9m a year earlier. However, the impact of the interest-rate swaps, financial expenses and restructuring costs meant that, over the year, Maple Leaf’s net earnings fell to C$25.8m. In 2009, net earnings were C$52.1m.
Sales fell 4.9% in 2010 to $4.97bn, with sales across Maple Leaf’s meat products, agribusiness, protein and bakery products divisions falling. Fourth-quarter sales were down 9% at $1.21bn primarily due to the sale of Maple Leaf’s Burlington pork facility during the last three months of the year.
Click here for the full statement from Maple Leaf.
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