Weak sales for pork offset positive numbers

Shares in Maple Leaf Foods Inc. fell after the company reported a drop in its first quarter profit compared with a year ago, hurt by weakness in its pork business.

Shares in the meat and food processor dropped more than 10 per cent in initial trading in Toronto before recovering some of the lost ground. The shares closed at $28.66, down 5.6 per cent on the day.

Before the start of trading Wednesday, Torontobased Maple Leaf reported a profit of $27.9 million, or 22 cents per share, for the quarter ended March 31 compared with a profit of $30.1 million, or 23 cents per share, a year ago. Sales totalled $817.5 million, up from $811.2 million.

On an adjusted basis, Maple Leaf says it earned 29 cents per share, down from 33 cents per share a year ago.

Analysts on average had expected an adjusted profit of 34 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters.

Maple Leaf, one of Canada’s biggest pork processors, said positive trends and performance in its underlying business were offset by conditions in pork markets that were materially below a year ago. The company said that sales in value-added fresh pork were affected by a transitory reduction in hog supply from Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus in 2017.

One of the company’s barns in Manitoba, Canada’s biggest piglet-producing province, was among the confirmed cases of the pig disease in June last year.