Maple Leaf Foods Q4 beats expectations

Maple Leaf Foods Inc. beat expectations as it reported a fourth-quarter profit of $25.4 million, up from $17.5 million a year ago, and sales rose more than 10%.

The food processing company says the profit amounted to 20 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Dec. 31, up from 14 cents per share a year earlier.

Sales for the quarter totalled $1.13 billion, up from $1.02 billion in the fourth quarter of 2019, as both its meat protein and plant protein groups saw gains.

Meat protein group sales rose 11.3%, while plant protein sales rose 5.5%.

On an adjusted basis, Maple Leaf says it earned 30 cents per share, up from an adjusted profit of 12 cents per share a year earlier.

Analysts on average had expected an adjusted profit of 21 cents per share and $1.07 billion in sales, according to financial data firm Refinitiv.