AGT Reports First Quarter Profit

TORONTO - May 12 /14 - SNS -- Alliance Grain Traders Inc. (AGT) reported net earnings of CDN $9.212 million on revenue of $311.283 million during the first quarter ending March 31, compared to a net loss of $380,000 on sales of $276.44 million during the same three month period last year.

Commenting on the results, Murad Al-Katib, President and CEO said, "Our legacy business continues to build on the recovery we saw in 2013, driven by improved results from our operations in Turkey and, of course, Canada. With margins and volumes in this segment tracking as per our expectations, we believe we may see further improvement in 2014.

"Farmers in Canada and the U.S. are getting ready for seeding. We expect another strong pulse production season that will add to the relatively average levels of global supply, but the estimated seeding intentions can change at this time of year."

Al-Katib added, "Transportation issues are being monitoring carefully, as all participants in the agribusiness supply chain, from Government to agri-exporters to the carriers and port operators, appear to be working together to assist in clearing the backlog of shipments created during the quarter and help Western Canadian farmers and exporters move their products to market."

Discussing AGT's evolution from a pulse processor to a food company, Al-Katib said, "Our food ingredient and packaged food segment continues to track positive progress towards demonstrating its growth potential and earnings. We have completed commissioning on the second line at Minot with commercial production ramping up as we expected.

"Our sales programs, both with our partners and through our global sales system, are developing as we expected they would, with customer interest in our proteins and fibers and increasingly in our high viscosity flours and starch products. As well, we are working to develop synergistic trade opportunities between our operations globally to assist in maximizing sales opportunities in all segments, which we expect may positively impact our capacity utilization globally and therefore our margins and earnings."