Maple Leaf Foods reports $43.1M Q3 profit, sales up eight per cent from year ago

 Maple Leaf Foods Inc. reported a third-quarter profit of $43.1 million, up from $17.7 million in the same quarter last year as its sales rose eight per cent. The company says the profit amounted to 35 cents per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30, up from a profit of 14 cents per share a year earlier. Total company sales amounted to $1.36 billion, up from $1.26 billion in the same quarter last year. Maple Leaf says its prepared food sales rose 4.4 per cent, while poultry sales gained 15.7 per cent. The company’s pork business saw sales rise 10.4 per cent. On an adjusted basis, Maple Leaf says it earned 49 cents per share in its most recent quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 18 cents per share a year earlier. Maple Leaf completed a spin off of its pork business as Canada Packers Inc. last month.