Seneca Foods, the US food group, fell into the red in the first six months of the financial year after two quarters of losses.
The company posted a net loss of US$685,000 for the half year to 27 September after a loss of $578,000 in the second quarter. In 2013/14, Seneca generated profit of $7.7m in the first half of the year.
A LIFO inventory valuation charge hit Seneca’s earnings but it also saw sales drop 7.2% to $312.2m. Second-quarter sales were down 2.9%.
Seneca said volumes fell during the second quarter and the first half. The group said the drop in second-quarter sales was due to a “timing issue”. It said the sale of certain commodities fell in this year’s third quarter, compared to the second quarter last year, due to cooler weather.
