Canada Bread Sales Pass Billion Dollar Mark

TORONTO - Feb 21/03 - SNS -- Fiscal 200 sales for Canada Bread Company, Limited passed the billion dollar mark for the first time in the company's history, reflecting the impact of business acquisitions.

Richard Lan, President and Chief Executive Officer noted, "Our acquisitions of the past 16 months have added 20 bakeries, 3,000 employees and more than 10,000 customers."

Sales for the year increased 52% to $1,028.6 million from $678.3 million for the prior year period. Earnings from operations increased 61% to $63.8 million from $36.4 million last year ($39.5 million before goodwill amortization).

Excluding acquisitions, this represented an internal sales growth rate of 8%. The increase in sales and earnings was the result of significant growth in both the fresh and frozen bread operations, as well as synergies resulting from the Multi-Marques acquisition in Quebec. Net earnings for the year were $38.7 million or $1.80 per share compared to $20.9 million or $0.97 per share for the prior year period ($24.0 million and $1.12 per share before goodwill amortization).

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