Regina-based Alliance Grain Traders Incorporated (AGTI) has announced its first-quarter results for the year, and the figures show a substantial growth in both gross and net earnings compared to a year ago.
For the quarter ending March 31, 2010, earning before interest, income tax, depreciation and amortization – what’s known as EBITDA – came in at $21.9 million, or a 100 per cent increase from the $10.9 million figure for the first quarter of last year.
Net income for the quarter also increased by 133 per cent to $16.8 million ($0.98 per common share or $0.96 on a diluted basis) compared to $7.2 million ($0.90 per common share/unit or unit equivalent or $0.84 on a diluted basis) for the first quarter of 2009.
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“The strength of this quarter has really been attributable to capturing the opportunities we had identified with our acquisition and diversification strategy. A lot of product moved through our plants in Canada and we are excited about the growth potential presented by the upcoming harvest in Turkey,” said Murad Al-Katib, president and CEO of AGTI.
The company has gone on an acquisition campaign in recent months, growing the company through purchasing established players along with a unique deal that saw its relationship with a key early investor change dramatically.
Alliance Grain had owned and operated SaskCan Pulse Trading at Regina, SaskCan Horizon Trading at Aberdeen, Sask., United Pulse Trading in North Dakota, and a milling firm in South Australia. An early key investor was the Arbel Group Companies of Turkey, which Alliance recently reached a $104 million cash-and-stock deal to buy.
Since then the company also announced a further round of consolidation, including the purhcase of the specialty crop export firm Finora of Surrey, B.C. Assets for accquired in the deal include four crop processing plants: two at Wilkie, Sask., one at Assiniboia, Sask. and one at Gibbons, Alta.
Alliance also recently announced the purchase of Parent Seed Farms, a long-time merchandiser and processor of dry edible beans in St. Joseph, Manitoba.
“We have been able to capitalize on the quality and location of our assets, matching product purchases at the farmer level to sales demand on the customer side. With our focused strategy, we targeted a number of opportunities and were able to successfully execute on them. We remain confident and excited about our future prospects,” added Al-Katib.
The unaudited interim financial statements and management’s discussion and analysis for the three months ended March 31, 2010 are available under the Company’s profile on www.sedar.com and have been posted on the Company’s web site at www.alliancegrain.com. All amounts are reported in Canadian dollars.
