The day after Michael McCain met with investors to brief them on the
company’s performance and plans, the Globe and Mail says it’s the target of
several buyers.
The Globe says Smithfield Foods made a bid for the company’s
meat-processing division in late March, that Kraft Foods Inc. and Hormel Meats
Corp. are checking it out and that Groupo Bimbo of Mexico, an international
giant in the baking business, might make a bid.
McCain told investors that construction is on schedule, so it will
open Canada’s largest meat-processing plant at Hamilton before the end of the
year and a huge distribution centre at Highways 401 and 6 in July.
It’s in the process of commissioning expansions at its plants in
Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Brampton, said McCain who is president, chief executive
officer and owner of a third of the company’s shares.
He said the company is on track with its plans to increase sales and
profits.
Earnings before Tax and Depreciation (EBITDA) have increased by 144
percent since 2003, he said.
EBITDA in its protein operations have increased by 50 percent since
it launched its protein restructuring in 2007.
The goal is an EBITDA margin of 11.7 per cent by 2015 compared with
7.9 percent in 2012, McCain said by way of a news release.
He said the Hamilton plant will be “one of the most advanced
prepared meats manufacturing facilities in North America” and that the new
distribution centre will consolidate operations from 19 facilities by the end
of next year.
“These and other projects included in the company's value-creation
strategy, which was launched in 2010, represent a total capital investment of
over $780 million,” McCain said.
Two years ago the company started construction of a $390-million bakery
in Hamilton which consolidated operations from three plants in Ontario.
Among other major moves it has made is the sale of its Shur Gain and
Landmark feed businesses to Nutreco of the Netherlands, its plan to close the
main Schneider Corp. in Kitchener next year and its purchase of the Puratone
hog-production company out of bankruptcy in a move to ensure a continued supply
of hogs for its slaughtering plant at Brandon, Man.
