Jan. 20, 2009, Sask. – Strong fundamental demand for Canadian agricultural ingredients along with
continued improvements in operating efficiencies throughout the company's value
chain resulted in a record performance in 2008.
Viterra
generated net income of $288.3 million for the year ($1.31 earnings per share),
up sharply from $116.5 million ($0.84 earnings per share) earned during the
same period in 2007.
For the year end Oct. 31, 2008, Viterra generated EBITDA (earnings before
interest, taxes, amortization, gain (loss) on disposal of assets, integration
expenses and recovery of (provision for) pension settlement) of $532.6 million,
an increase of $266.8 million compared to the same 12-month period of 2007.
Higher gross margins and increased efficiencies in the grain handling and marketing, agri-products and agri-food Processing segments were the main
drivers for improved earnings in 2008.
Mayo Schmidt, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented on the
significant earnings improvements, "Our continued focus on operational
excellence, together with our integration efforts led to record performance
this year. We successfully completed the integration of Agricore United and its
subsidiaries. In fact, as of Oct. 31, 2008, we delivered a total of $110
million in synergies and are confident that we will achieve a full run rate of
$116 million by Jan. 31, 2009. Productivity gains achieved through the
integration, along with our focus on continuous improvements throughout the
entire value-added chain had an extremely positive impact on our financial
results for 2008".
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