Maple Leaf Foods reports $41.5M Q4 loss, post weaker pork, cyberattack

Michael McCain, Executive Chair of the Board and CEO of Maple Leaf Foods Inc. waits to appear as a witness at the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food investigating food price inflation in Ottawa, on Monday, March 6, 2023. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby)

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. -

Maple Leaf Foods Inc. raised its dividend as it reported a loss of $41.5 million in its latest quarter due in part to weaker pork markets and a cyberattack.

The food processing company says it will now pay a quarterly dividend of 21 cents per share, up from 20 cents per share.

The increased payment to shareholders came as Maple Leaf says its loss for the quarter ended Dec. 31 amounted to 34 cents per share compared with a profit of $1.9 million or two cents per share in the last three months of 2021.

Sales totalled $1.19 billion, up from $1.12 billion a year earlier.

The company says its most recent quarter included a $23-million hit related to what it called a cybersecurity incident in November and $25.8 million in startup expenses related to construction projects.

On an adjusted basis, Maple Leaf says it lost 28 cents per share in its fourth quarter compared with an adjusted profit of nine cents per share a year earlier.

"2022 was clearly a year of unprecedented challenges for us on many fronts, including hyperinflation, dislocation in the pork markets, supply chain dysfunction, job vacancies and a cyberattack," Maple Leaf Foods chief executive Michael McCain said in a statement.

"Of course, our fourth-quarter results are not where we like them to be, given these unprecedented market conditions and the impacts of the cyberattack, but the underlying health of the business in normal markets is solid and in-line with where we expected to be at this point."

 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 9, 2023.