03:46 PM EST - Maple Leaf Foods Inc. : reported that first quarter net earnings increased to $8.75 million or $0.06 per share from $2.87 million or $0.02 per share last year. Adjusted Operating Earnings increased 7% to $33.9 million from $31.6 million last year, due to better performance in the protein operations. Adjusted basic EPS increased to $0.09 from $0.05 last year. Sales for the quarter declined 7% to $1.19 billion from $1.28 billion last year, mostly due to the impact of the strengthening of the Canadian dollar on fresh pork sales and the translation of bakery sales in the U.S. and the U.K. to Canadian dollars. Maple Leaf Foods Inc.
shares T.MFI are trading down $0.32 at $9.93.
