Maple Leaf Foods Inc. MFI-T reported a third-quarter profit of $17.7-million compared with a loss of $4.3-million in the same quarter last year.
The company says the profit amounted to 14 cents per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a loss of four cents per share a year earlier.
Sales for the quarter totalled $1.26-billion, up from $1.24-billion a year ago.
On an adjusted basis, Maple Leaf says it earned 18 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 13 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
Maple Leaf, which is working to spin off its pork business into a new, publicly traded company to be called Canada Packers Inc., also says it has identified a way to implement the plan through a tax-free “butterfly reorganization.”
The company says it continues to expect to complete the transaction next year, however the spinoff under the new structure is subject to an advance tax ruling from the Canada Revenue Agency and will take longer than first anticipated.