Maple Leaf now mended, CEO says

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This article was published 30/04/2010 (5698 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO — Maple Leaf Foods Inc. chief executive Michael McCain says the company is back on its feet after a gruelling battle with listeriosis-causing contamination at one plant that left its reputation bruised.

But a loonie near parity could deliver further challenges to the major food processor, though McCain insists the company has mapped out the coming quarters with a higher dollar in mind.

"We would obviously prefer to have lower currencies than higher currencies, but we’re preparing to do the right things to manage our business and be competitive at parity," he said Thursday in an interview after the company’s annual meeting.

"We’re comfortable that the strategies we have in place will address that shift."

Earlier, Maple Leaf (TSX:MFI) reported that its first-quarter profit rose to $8.8 million, or six cents per share, even as sales revenue during the first three months of the year was dragged down by the offputting effect of a higher dollar on its sales abroad.

The quarterly profit was still well ahead of its $2.9-million, two-cents-per-share, profit in the prior-year period.

Adjusted operating earnings rose to $33.9 million, or nine cents, from $31.6 million, or five cents, a year earlier, though sales slipped seven per cent to $1.19 billion from $1.28 billion, with the stronger loonie affecting pork sales.

Shares of the company slipped 11 cents to $10.14 in afternoon trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange, with a 52-week high of $12.06 and low of $8.

At the company’s annual meeting, McCain told a packed room of shareholders he was optimistic about Maple Leaf’s future, after a "constant stream of challenges" over the past four years, which started with dollar parity and worsened into a contaminated food product disaster.

It has been almost two years since Maple Leaf found itself at the centre Canada’s largest food recall ever after an outbreak of Listeria at one of its meat plants in August 2008 that was linked to the deaths of 22 people.

Maple Leaf responded to the problems by launching a massive food-safety initiative McCain said includes a daily food-safety call between plant supervisors and himself, as well as detailed safety audits of its operations.

"After a couple of fairly challenging years it finally feels like we’re back on stable ground," McCain told the annual meeting.

"It finally feels like we have some footing again."

 

— The Canadian Press