Business
SunOpta Announces Q4 and 2006 Year End Results
SunOpta Announces Q4 and 2006 Year End Results.
About this update from Sunopta Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\nTORONTO, February 22 /CNW/ - SunOpta Inc. (SunOpta or the Company)\n(Nasdaq:STKL) (TSX:SOY) today announced results for the fourth quarter and\nyear ended December 31, 2006. All amounts are expressed in U.S. dollars.\n\n\nThe Company achieved record revenues for the three months ended December\n31, 2006, realizing its 37th consecutive quarter of increased revenue growth\nversus the same quarter in the previous year. Revenues in the fourth quarter\nincreased by 33.9% to $163,506,000 compared to $122,070,000 in the fourth\nquarter of the prior year. Fourth quarter revenues were the highest of any\nquarter in the Company's history and reflect continued strong growth in core\nbusiness segments.\n\n\nFor the year ended December 31, 2006 revenues increased 40.3% to\n$598,026,000 as compared to $426,101,000 in the prior year. Internal growth of\n16.1% was realized during the year with 18.4% internal growth realized within\nthe SunOpta Food Group.\n\n\nNet earnings in the quarter rose 33.4% to $2,080,000 or $0.04 per diluted\ncommon share as compared to $1,559,000 or $0.03 per diluted common share in\nthe fourth quarter of 2005, after absorbing pre-tax costs of $1,601,000\nrelated to the frozen fruit recall previously announced by SunOpta's\nsubsidiary, Cleugh's Frozen Foods Inc. These costs include $822,000 of direct\nexpenses incurred by SunOpta and our affected customer and $779,000 in costs\nto voluntarily rework product that was produced during the period in question.\nThis recall was an isolated incident and the Company has captured all the\nknown costs within the fourth quarter.\n\n\nNet earnings for the year were $10,959,000 or $0.19 per diluted common\nshare as compared to $13,558,000 or $0.24 per diluted common share in the\nprevious year which included a dilution gain of $0.08 per diluted common share\nrelated to the initial public offering of Opta Minerals. The 2006 results also\ninclude a significant segment operating loss within the Company's sunflower\nbusiness of $3,948,000 due to very poor crop conditions as compared to segment\noperating income in the previous year of approximately $2,000,000.\n\n\nSegment operating income within the SunOpta Food Group increased from\n$4,670,000 in the fourth quarter of 2005 to $5,385,000, reflecting a 15.3%\nincrease despite the costs associated with the previously noted recal...