Kenneth Zaslow of BMO World Markets is not impressed by the
performance of Maple Leaf Foods Inc.
He says the recent announcement of second-quarter financial
results indicates the company isn’t doing as well as anticipated.
He listed several challenges – high costs to commission
three plant expansions; higher raw material costs, particularly pork bellies; a
weak Japanese yen; increased hog production losses, and lower earnings in
rendering because of a cost-price squeeze of higher costs for raw material
and lower prices for biodiesel.
However, sales volumes increased during the second quarter.
But the
company made no profit in the second quarter compared with $26 million in the
same quarter last year.
