Maple Leaf Foods reported higher revenue and earnings in the first quarter as growth in its poultry business, operating efficiencies and lower debt costs helped lift results.
The Mississauga, Ont.-based food company said Thursday sales for the quarter ended March 31 totalled $962.9 million, up 6.2 per cent from $906.7 million in the same period last year.
Earnings from continuing operations rose to $46.1 million, or 37 cents per basic share, compared with $16 million, or 13 cents per share, a year earlier.
Adjusted EBITDA increased 5.7 per cent to $122.4 million from $115.8 million last year, while adjusted basic earnings per share climbed to 34 cents from 21 cents.
The company said earnings before income taxes totalled $64 million in the quarter compared with $24.3 million a year earlier.
“Our first quarter results reflect the disciplined execution of our strategic blueprint across the business,” said Curtis Frank, president and chief executive of Maple Leaf Foods.
“We delivered 6% year-over-year revenue growth, the sequential margin recovery we expected, and higher Adjusted EBITDA, driven by operating efficiency, favourable mix, and disciplined cost management, while generating strong Free Cash Flow.”
The company said poultry sales increased 11.7 per cent during the quarter, helped by improved channel mix, growth in retail and foodservice volumes and pricing. The gains were partially offset by higher trade promotion spending.
Prepared foods sales increased 2.3 per cent, driven by pricing, improved product mix and related-party revenue. Maple Leaf Foods said those gains were partly offset by lower volumes tied to the timing of promotional activity, reduced industrial sales, unfavourable foreign exchange impacts on U.S. sales and higher trade promotion spending.
Gross profit increased to $180.4 million from $154.1 million a year earlier, while gross margin rose to 18.7 per cent from 17 per cent.
The company attributed the increase in gross profit to improved operating efficiency, including benefits from its Fuel for Growth program, favourable poultry channel mix and changes in unrealized gains and losses on commodity futures contracts. Higher trade promotion spending partially offset those gains.
Selling, general and administrative expenses totalled $101.9 million in the quarter, compared with $103.1 million a year earlier.
Maple Leaf Foods said earnings before income taxes benefited from the same factors driving gross profit, as well as reduced interest expense due to lower debt levels following the spin-off of its pork operations in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Total earnings for the quarter were $46.1 million, or 37 cents per share, compared with $49.6 million, or 40 cents per share, in the same quarter last year. The company said the decline reflected forgone earnings from the divested pork operations, partially offset by stronger earnings from continuing operations.
Adjusted operating earnings rose to $75.9 million from $57 million a year earlier.
Cash provided by operating activities increased to $54.7 million from $9.9 million in the prior year, while free cash flow improved to an inflow of $36.6 million compared with an outflow of $13.6 million a year earlier.
Net debt at the end of the quarter stood at $1.009 billion, down $544.6 million from a year earlier. Net debt to trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA improved to 2.1 times from 2.6 times.
“Our transformation into a purpose-driven, protein-focused, brand-led CPG company is delivering tangible results,” added Frank.
“With leading brands, scalable growth platforms, and initiatives like Fuel for Growth strengthening our cost structure, we are on track to deliver our 2026 outlook of mid-single-digit revenue growth, continued margin expansion and disciplined capital allocation.”
The company also said its board approved a quarterly dividend of 21 cents per share, payable June 30 to shareholders of record as of June 8.
More from Retail Insider:
