Canadian natural and organic group SunOpta has booked a drop in full-year earnings, which were negatively impacted by write-down charges.
The company said that net earnings totalled US$9.6m for the 12 months to 31 December, down from $13.2m in the previous year.
The company said that its earnings were hit by one-off costs, including write-downs of inventory, as well as intangible and long-lived assets, at its Pure Life Health Products and frozen foods operations. These one-off charges totalled $8.7m. The group also said that excluding exceptio al items, adjusted earnigns from continuing operations would have totalled $20.2m.
However, acquisitions boosted SunOpta’s sales, which increased 20.5% to $1.08bn. Excluding acquisitions, underlying sales rose 11.6%, the group added.
“We have recently undertaken to streamline our operations and organisation structure, addressing under performing food based operations and targeting improved earnings predictability and return on assets,” CEO Steve Bromley said.
“We continue to be confident in our strategy and are encouraged by the number of new initiatives and opportunities we have in the pipeline. We believe we are well positioned in the natural and organic foods sector and are confident in our future prospects.”

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