The Ontario-based meat packer finished the third quarter with adjusted operating earnings reached C$65.2 million ($50.3 million).
"We continued to deliver year-over-year sales and earnings growth in the third quarter, benefiting from our balanced portfolio which offset a sharp spike in raw material costs and the margin compression we expected from this," said Michael H. McCain, president and CEO. “We are accelerating profitable growth by leveraging our leadership in sustainability and executing on our strategies, which provides significant market differentiation and growth opportunities."
For the third quarter, the company reported net earnings from continuing operations of C$37.6 million ($29.4 million), or 29 Canadian cents per share, compared to C$31.8 million ($24.7 million) or 23 Canadian cents per share a year ago. Healthy performance in the value-added fresh segment was offset by lower margins in the company’s prepared meats business, which was attributed to higher raw material costs. Maple Leaf increased prices during the latter part of the third quarter to offset the higher input costs.
Sales for the third quarter advanced 6.6 percent from last year, or 5.8 percent after adjusting for the impact of foreign exchange, to C$908.4 million ($706.8 million). The changes occurred due to higher sales across the portfolio benefited from improved volumes and the addition of Lightlife.
Net earnings were impacted by a one-time gain on the sale of an older processing plant, higher restructuring costs and a change in the fair value of biological assets. For the first nine months, net earnings were C$105.0 million ($81.7 million) compared to $105.5 million ($0.78 per basic share) last year.
