Canadian food group Maple Leaf Foods has sought to increase prices on its pork products after the US hog virus pushed up costs and contributed to pressure on profits in the first quarter of 2014.
Michael McCain, Maple Leaf’s president and CEO, said the pork market had been “impacted in an unprecedented way” by the virus and hit the company’s margins. McCain said Maple Leaf had acted.
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“We have accelerated price increases in the second quarter to recover margins, and expect the effects of this to be transitory as the industry is forecasting a return to more normal conditions later in 2014,” McCain said.
Maple Leaf reported an adjusted operating loss of C$29.9m for the first three months of the year, higher than the $27.9m loss it incurred a year earlier.
The company ran up a net loss from continuing operations of C$124.6m compared to C$30.6m last year amid a jump in finance costs.
Sales from continuing operations were C$711.3m, an increase of 3.2% from last year, or 2.1% after adjusting for the impacts of foreign exchange. The company cited higher pricing and “value sales mix”.
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By GlobalData
