Canada’s Maple Leaf Foods has reported a decline in second-quarter profit due to a drop in meat sales.
The company posted a net profit of C$1.8m (US$1.3m), or 1 cent per share, for the quarter to 30 June, compared to $22.6m, or 19 cents per share, a year earlier. Analysts polled by Reuters had been expecting profit of 13 cents per share.
Revenues remained unchanged at $1.3bn. Maple Leaf’s meat sales, including pork, poultry and beef, were down 4.3%, while its bakery sales rose 9%.
“Make no mistake about it, we are clearly disappointed with our second-quarter financial results. It was not our finest hour. It was a very weak quarter in volume,” Michael H. McCain, president and chief executive, was quoted by Reuters as saying.
The company also attributed the lower profit to a weaker Japanese pork market, restructuring at a meat processing plant in Atlantic Canada and a labour dispute at a Quebec bakery distribution centre.
