Maple Leaf Foods losses narrow during Q2 2015

Canadian meat and poultry company Maple Leaf Foods narrowed its losses again in the second quarter of fiscal year 2015, ending with a net loss of CA$7.5 million (US$5.76 million), an improvement from the CA$39.5 million loss recorded during the second quarter of fiscal year 2014.
The company, which has posted a net loss in each of the last nine quarters as the company has been undergoing a transformation by replacing outdated processing plants with new ones that operate more efficiently. Maple Leaf Foods’s last old plant went offline on April 30, allowing the company to now move forward.
Other highlights of Maple Leaf Foods’ second quarter include:


• Adjusted operating earnings increased by CA$33.8 million when compared to the previous year
• Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) margin increased to 6 percent from the second quarter of 2014 and 4.7 percent from the first quarter of 2015
• Adjusted earnings per share of $.013, up from a loss of $0.12 during the second quarter of FY 2014
“We are very pleased with the progress we made in the second quarter,” said Michael H. McCain, president and CEO of Maple Leaf Foods. “We delivered improved volumes with strong commercial performance. We marked a major milestone with the closing of the last of our remaining legacy facilities, which brought an end to our duplicative supply chain, and continued to improve the operational efficiency of our new start-up plants. All of these factors contributed to a significant improvement in earnings, consecutive quarter-over-quarter growth in EBITDA margin, and positive free cash flow. Over the balance of the year, we have aggressive plans to build on our commercial momentum and a clear line of sight on how to capture the additional benefits from our new plants and deliver our 10 percent EBITDA margin target.”