Maple Leaf Foods posts $17.5 million Q4 profit

Maple Leaf Foods Inc. increased its dividend as it reported a fourth-quarter profit of $17.5 million.

The company says it will now pay a quarterly dividend of 16 cents per share, up from its previous rate of 14.5 cents per share.

Maple Leaf says its profit for the quarter ended Dec. 31 amounted to 14 cents per share compared with a profit of $11.9 million or 10 cents per share in the last three months of 2018.

Sales totalled $1 billion, up from $893.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2018.

On an adjusted basis, Maple Leaf says it earned 12 cents per share, down from an adjusted profit of 29 cents per share in the same quarter a year earlier.

Analysts on average had expected a profit of 17 cents per share and revenue of $986.5 million, according to financial markets data firm Refinitiv.