Lassonde reports $123.6M in profit for fourth quarter of 2022
Quebec-headquartered Lassonde Industries Inc. reported $123.6 million in profit for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022, down $10.5 million from the previous year.
The agri-food company attributed the loss to a number of factors, noting it took a $3.7 million hit in Q4 following a production interruption of the cranberry sauce line at its New Jersey plant.
Lassonde reported a $5.2 million loss in gross profit for fiscal 2022 due to the production interruption.
Higher input costs also played a role, particularly for apple and orange concentrates and PET resin, including an increase in the cost of transporting the produce to Lassonde’s plants, the company said.
Sales were up 9.5% to $556 million for the quarter (excluding a $22.4 million favourable foreign exchange impact).
Gross profit for the full year reached $523.3 million, up $1.4 million from 2021. Sales totalled $2.15 billion (excluding a $44.8 million favourable foreign exchange impact), up 11.3% from the previous year.
"Despite a challenging year impacting our financials, we achieved an important milestone in 2022 with sales exceeding the $2 billion mark for the first time in our history, representing almost 14% growth year-over-year. This achievement reflects the important efforts of our employees in the context of severe macro-economic headwinds and industry-wide challenges. During the past year, our team worked diligently to strengthen our leadership position in the North American food and beverage sector, with a particular focus on improving U.S. operations. We anticipate that tangible results from our operational excellence efforts will gradually become apparent in 2023 and 2024, establishing a clear path towards long-term profitable growth," said Nathalie Lassonde, CEO and vice chair of the board of directors of Lassonde Industries Inc., in a statement.
Looking ahead, Lassonde expects the financial health of consumers, inflation and supply chain disruptions to have the biggest impact on its performance in fiscal 2023.
The company said it expects the effects of cost increases on its branded and private label product offerings to continue to be felt in early 2023. It also expects further “pricing action” to be implemented as inflation persists.
