George Weston: profit slides in Q4/2009

Toronto / CA. (gwl) Bakery and grocery giant George Weston Limited remained profitable in the fourth quarter 2009 but says it is facing inflationary pressures as the cost of some of its staple ingredients continues to rise and squeeze revenues. North America´s largest baked goods maker has not increased prices since last March and does not plan to pass on cost increases to consumers in a «tough market» for grocery retailers, said Weston´s chief financial officer Bob Vaux in a press release.

The company reported a lower quarterly profit and said it was assessing strategic options for its cash and short-term investments due to foreign exchange fluctuations. George Weston said fluctuation in the US-Dollar would continue to impact its earnings in 2010 and that it would remain focused on cost reduction initiatives. For the fourth quarter, the company earned 82 million CAD or 0,55 CAD a share, compared with 405 million CAD or 3,06 CAD a share a year ago.

George Weston, which owns No. 1 Canadian supermarket chain Loblaw, said that its year-ago results included a gain of 2,18 CAD per share from the disposal of its dairy and bottling operations. The company earned 0,52 CAD a share from continuing operations in the latest quarter. All in all sales were down about six percent to 7,54 billion CAD. Fresh bakery sales fell 3,3 percent and frozen bakery sales were down 4,5 percent, the company said in its news release.

Info: «George Weston Limited Provides Preliminary Unaudited Financial Update for the 2009 Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2009».