Central Canada Foods Profits Slip

TORONTO - Sep 21/05 - SNS -- Central Canada Foods Corporation reported net income of CDN $31,155 on sales of $7,053,681 during the third quarter ending July 31, compared to a net of $46,936 on sales of $5,368.610 during the same three month period last year.

This lifted net income for the first nine months of the current fiscal year to $143,532 on sales of $16,503,766, compared to a net of $188,891 on sales of $16,886,856 last year.

The company said meat products and labor costs increased in the third quarter by $1,401,000 to $6,289,000 from $4,889,000 in 2004 due to increased sales. Lower raw material costs and increased productivity in the new Timberlea plant resulted in the decrease in meat products and labor as a percentage of sales to 89.2% in the current period, from 91.0% for the same period in 2004, despite industry wide higher costs of raw material in Canada.

Year to date, lower sales resulted in lower cost of meat and labor for the period which fell $806,000 to $14,284,000 from $15,090,000 in the first nine months of fiscal 2004. As a percentage of sales, the cost meat products and labor improved to 86.6% of sales from 89.4% for the same period in 2004, reflecting improved productivity in the new plant.

Central Canada Foods Corporation (CCFC) is a federally inspected, HACCP approved, meat processing company that converts wholesale cuts and smaller cuts from a hog carcass and smaller cuts into fresh-boxed pork and case ready products, hams and boneless picnic loins for shipment to its customers. CCFC's products are marketed and sold to Canadian national and regional grocery chains, as well as in the Asian-Pacific market and other international markets.