SunOpta Announces Second Quarter 2011 Results

For the two quarters ended July 2, 2011 the Company reported revenues of $551.7 million versus revenues of $450.6 million for the two quarters ended July 3, 2010, a year over year increase of 22.4%.

Aug 12 2011 --- SunOpta Inc., a leading global company focused on natural, organic and specialty foods and natural health products, announced financial results for the quarter and two quarters ended July 2, 2011. All amounts are expressed in U.S. dollars and results are reported in accordance with U.S. GAAP, except where specifically noted.

For the quarter ended July 2, 2011 the Company realized quarterly revenues of $290.8 million versus revenues of $233.9 million for the quarter ended July 3, 2010, an increase of 24.3%. This represents the largest quarterly revenues from continuing operations in the Company's history, and reflects continued growth in the natural and organic foods sectors. Revenues increased 13.2% excluding the impact of the acquisitions completed late in 2010.

For the quarter ended July 2, 2011 the Company reported earnings per diluted common share from continuing operations of $0.07, or $4.4 million, as compared to $0.09, or $6.2 million, for the quarter ended July 3, 2010. The Company experienced continued strong performance in the International Foods Group and Opta Minerals Inc. offset by reduced earnings in the Grains and Foods Group primarily due to commodity market pressures in the sunflower segment, reduced earnings in the Ingredients Group due mainly to the loss of a major customer earlier in the year, and higher income taxes.

Earnings for the quarter ended July 2, 2011 reflect an income tax rate of 42.2%. The income tax rate is expected to normalize over the balance of the year to an annualized tax rate of approximately 36% due to the expected realization of certain tax benefits in the third and fourth quarter of 2011.

The quarterly results include other pre-tax income of approximately $3.2 million, due primarily to gains on the sale of assets in the Fruit Group during the quarter. These gains were offset by additional pre-tax costs of approximately $3.4 million included within the segmented results related to the Fruit Group disposals and other legal and rationalization matters.      

For the quarter ended July 2, 2011 the Company realized EBITDA1 of $12.9 million compared to $15.8 million for the quarter ended July 3, 2010.

For the two quarters ended July 2, 2011 the Company reported revenues of $551.7 million versus revenues of $450.6 million for the two quarters ended July 3, 2010, a year over year increase of 22.4%. Revenues increased 11.6% excluding the impact of the acquisitions completed late in 2010.

For the two quarters ended July 2, 2011 the Company realized earnings per diluted common share from continuing operations of $0.14, or $9.5 million, as compared to $0.16, or $10.4 million, for the two quarters ended July 3, 2010.

For the two quarters ended July 2, 2011 the Company realized EBITDA1 of $28.8 million as compared to $29.8 million for the two quarters ended July 3, 2010.

At July 2, 2011, the Company's balance sheet reflects a current working capital ratio of 1.47 to 1.00, long-term debt to equity ratio of 0.20 to 1.00 and total debt to equity ratio of 0.55 to 1.00.  For the quarter ended July 2, 2011 the Company generated cash from continuing operating activities of $20.5 million as compared to $18.6 million for the quarter ended July 3, 2010. At the end of the quarter the Company had total debt outstanding of $167.8 million, a decrease of $17.8 million from the period ended April 2, 2011. At July 2, 2011 the Company had total assets of $631.4 million and a net book value of $4.65 per outstanding share. At July 2, 2011, the Company was in compliance with all its debt covenants.

Steve Bromley, President and Chief Executive Officer of SunOpta, commented, "Our results for the second quarter reflect record quarterly revenues from continuing operations for the Company and continued growth in the natural and organic foods categories where we operate. Although we are working through a difficult commodity environment at this time, especially in our sunflower business, we continue to believe in our core portfolio and are focused on a number of new initiatives and opportunities that are currently in the pipeline. We remain committed to expanding our business in fast growing healthy foods categories while at the same time improving operating margins and returns on assets employed. We believe we are well positioned in the natural and organic foods sector and are confident in our future prospects."