Maple Leaf Foods Inc profit beats as prepared meat products margins improve, raises dividend

Canadian pork processor Maple Leaf Foods Inc posted a better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit as margins in the prepared meats business improved.

Adjusted operating profit in the meat products group, which includes brands for example Schneiders and the company’s namesake Maple Leaf brand, was $54.6 million, in contrast to a year-ago loss of $19.A million.

The Mississauga, Canada-based company said margins at the business were helped partly by lower operating costs in the new prepared meat plants and pricing.

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Maple Leaf, which recently completed a restructuring program started in 2010 to enhance earnings by shutting or modernizing factories, raised its quarterly dividend by 1 cent per share to 9 cents per share.

Excluding items, Maple Leaf earned 25 cents per share, beating the average analyst estimate of 21 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Net profit was $33.3 million, or 24 cents per share, for that fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, versus a net lack of $28.Two million, or 20 cents per share, last year.

Revenue rose nearly 10 % to $873.1 million within the latest quarter.

? Thomson Reuters 2016