Penford Reports $2.3 Million Profit

DENVER - Jun 21/04 - SNS -- Penford Corporation reported a $2.3 million profit on sales of $72.5 million for the quarter ending May 31, up from a profit of $1.76 million on sales of $66 million last year.

This lifted results for the first three quarters of the current fiscal year to a net of $4.2 million on sales of $207.1 million, compared to a new profit of $6.6 million on sales of $193.8 million last year.

Results for fiscal 2003 included a $1.9 million pre-tax non-operating gain on the sale of the Hi-maize(R) business and fiscal 2004 results included $1.1 million in pre-tax restructuring costs in the Australian and Industrial Ingredients businesses.

Penford said third quarter gross margin as a percent of sales rose 120 basis points over last year primarily reflecting declining raw material grain costs in Australia and improved capacity utilization in the Industrial Ingredients business.

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