Imperial Sugar Profits Double

NEW YORK - Jan 31/06 - SNS -- Imperial Sugar Company declared a net income of U.S. $11.986 million on sales of $253.968 million during the first quarter ending December 31, 2005, compared to a net of just $6.543 million on sales of $214.707 million during the same three month period of the previous fiscal year.

The company said favorable domestic sugar market conditions were driven by a tight domestic supply caused by a smaller domestic sugarbeet crop and delays in the start of the harvest in some sugar beet areas, along with the impact of gulf coast hurricanes on the cane sugar industry. Industrial and foodservice sales were the primary drivers of the volume increase.

Increased prices for the quarter were driven primarily by consumer and foodservice price increases effective throughout much of the first quarter.

As expected, industrial prices lagged market trends since a significant portion of industrial sales are under fixed price forward sales contracts for up to a year, many of which are on a calendar year basis. Consequently, the increase in industrial sales prices for the first quarter was not as robust as the increase in consumer and foodservice prices.

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