High Liner Foods was able to achieve impressive sales growth despite the stronger Canadian dollar

COMPANY OF THE WEEK: High Liner Foods Reports Strong Q1 Results

High Liner Foods Incorporated (Public, TSX: HLF; HLF.A), a leading North American value-added frozen seafood company, has reported its financial results for the thirteen-week period ended April 2, 2011.

High Liner Foods Incorporated is a leading North American processor and marketer of prepared, value-added frozen seafood

Financial and operational highlights for the first quarter include (all comparisons are relative to the first quarter of 2010, unless otherwise noted):

• Sales increased by 7.3 percent to CAD 177.1 million
• Sales volume increased by 11.8 percent to 57.0 million pounds
• Adjusted EBITDA increased by 23.1 percent to CAD 18.1 million, or 10.2 percent of sales
• Net income increased by 25.3 percent to CAD 9.7 million, or diluted earnings per share ("EPS") of CAD 0.63, from CAD 7.8 million, or diluted EPS of CAD 0.42
• Completed the integration of Viking Seafoods, Inc. on April 4, 2011.

Henry Demone

"We are extremely pleased to report strong growth in sales, adjusted EBITDA, and net income during the first quarter, largely driven by our United States operations, which recorded a 22.8 percent increase in domestic currency sales," said Henry Demone, president and CEO, High Liner Foods Incorporated. "We were able to achieve impressive sales growth despite the stronger Canadian dollar. We experienced substantial growth in United States sales with the launch of new products and expanded distribution for our brands, which helped offset price-driven competitive challenges in our Canadian retail operations. Notwithstanding the weaker Canadian retail results, we are delighted that we significantly improved profitability with double-digit growth rates in Adjusted EBITDA in both Canadian and United States markets."

"We are also happy to announce that, on April 4, we successfully completed the integration of Viking Seafoods into our operations with no negative impacts on our customers. This was the first full quarter of Viking Seafoods within High Liner, and we are pleased with its contribution to our results," added Mr. Demone.

Strong growth in sales were largely driven by High Liner's  U.S. operations

"Our strong start to 2011 is very encouraging and supports our optimism for the remainder of the year," said Mr. Demone. "We saw significant improvements in our U.S. sales and volumes during the first quarter and we expect to continue our advertising campaign, expand distribution, and launch new and innovative products. Similarly, we look forward to sustained growth in our U.S. food service operations, as Viking contributes to our results, and new products such as "Fire Roasters (TM)" continue to receive strong market response. In Canada, we have begun to address the largely price-driven challenges we faced in our retail operations through strategies that include increased promotions and the launch of new value-pack commodity products. On the other hand, our Canadian food service sales volume increased by 6.6 percent, which indicates improving economic conditions with more people dining out."

"Although our profitability during the first quarter improved in both the U.S. and Canada due to increased volumes and cost-reduction strategies, we expect that we will be facing some margin pressures in the near term as we are seeing increasing prices for ingredients and other inputs. We have seen price relief on two of our major species. Nevertheless, there continues to be upward pressure on many seafood commodities. We are continuing our initiatives to improve operating efficiencies and further increase sales volumes to help soften the impact of rising costs," concluded Mr. Demone.

About High Liner Foods Incorporated

High Liner Foods Incorporated is a leading North American processor and marketer of prepared, value-added frozen seafood. High Liner's branded products are sold throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico under the High Liner(R), Fisher Boy(R), Mirabel(R) and Sea Cuisine(TM) labels, and are available in most grocery and club stores.

The Company also sells its High Liner (R), FPI (R), Mirabel (R), and Viking (TM) food service products to restaurants and institutions, and is a major supplier of private label seafood products to North American food retailers and food service distributors.

High Liner Foods is a publicly traded Canadian company, trading under the symbols HLF and HLF.A on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Source: High Liner Foods Incorporated

Margaret E.L. Stacey
Editor Companies and Products
[email protected]
www.seafood.media

Address:	100 Battery Point - Box 910
City:	Lunenburg
State/ZIP:	NS (B0J 2C0 )
Country:	Canada
Phone:	+1 902 634 8811
Fax:	+1 902 634 4785
E-Mail:	[email protected]
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