January 20, 2011
Viterra announces strong annual and fourth quarter financial results
Press Release
Viterra Inc. has made great progress in fiscal 2010, furthering its vision of being a leading global food ingredients business in the world's agriculture supply chain; for the year ended October 31, 2010, Viterra generated EBITDA of CAD518 million (US$521 million) compared to CAD324 million (US$326 million) in fiscal 2009.
The increase was driven by Viterra Australia's operations which were acquired in September 2009 and contributed CAD176 million (US$177 million) in fiscal 2010. Strong fourth quarter fertilizer sales and contributions from new pasta and oat processing businesses also increased EBITDA.
Net earnings for the year were up 28% to CAD145 million (US$146 million) compared to CAD113 million (US$114 million) in 2009. Earnings per share were CAD0.39 per share in fiscal 2010 compared to CAD0.45 per share in fiscal 2009 as the weighted average number of shares increased by 120 million shares year-over-year.
For the year ended October 31, 2010, Viterra's consolidated sales and other operating revenues reached CAD8.3 billion (US$8.35 billion), increasing CAD1.6 billion (US$1.61 billion) or 24% from fiscal 2009. The increase was mainly attributable to Viterra Australia's operations that contributed CAD2.3 billion (US$2.31 billion) to revenues in fiscal 2010 and to new food processing contributions. Lower volumes and commodity prices in the Company's North American grain handling operations partially offset this increase.
"Agriculture continues to be at the forefront of the global economy," commented Mayo Schmidt, Viterra's president and CEO. "Recently, flooding in parts of Australia, droughts in Argentina and potential crop damaging frost in Europe has tightened supply and pushed commodity prices up, allowing them to return from the soft pricing environment experienced during the last two years. Viterra is ideally situated with a strong leadership position in origination from both North America and South Australia. In fact, South Australia is currently harvesting what is expected to be a record setting crop.
The Company also successfully integrated three major acquisitions during fiscal 2010. Looking forward, Viterra is focused on delivering more value to shareholders through these acquisitions, its existing asset base, and other opportunities that present themselves in the marketplace in fiscal 2011.
