Humboldt Flour Mill has a new chief executive officer.
Brad Munro has taken over on an interim basis from John Cales, who resigned last week as an officer, director and employee of the company.
Cales has been on a leave of absence since August when Revenue Canada assessed the company’s 1996 income tax position at about $570,000 higher than reported by the company in its financial statements for the year ended July 31, 1996.
If correct, it would mean the company would owe about $240,000 in taxes instead of getting a refund as it anticipated.
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federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
The company has filed an objection and is awaiting a ruling.
Munro is also senior investment manager and Saskatchewan branch manager with Working Ventures Canadian Fund Inc. Working Ventures, a labor-sponsored venture capital company, bought a controlling interest in Humboldt Flour in 1995.
The change in management and the tax situation has caused only minor delays in the company’s plans to expand in the farm supply sector, Munro said.
“It has been a year now since our last acquisition and we were waiting to this point of the year to get to the next one anyway, so it hasn’t held us up that much.”
He said he is starting the search for a permanent chief executive.
Third quarter drop for Agrium
Saskatoon newsroom
Agrium Inc. last week announced its third quarter net earnings dropped about 30 percent to $16.07 million on gross revenue of $400.1 million.
Both numbers were down from the same quarter a year ago due mainly to lower prices for nitrogen and phosphate but also increased industrial and offshore sales that have less profit than agricultural sales.
The company expects a strong fourth quarter due to good fall weather in North America which has resulted in a lot of fertilizer application.
The company said in a news release that for the nine months ending Sept. 30, its profit was $148.5 million, or $1.14 a share, compared to $171.3 million ($1.25 a share) in the same period last year.
Cash flow for the period was $285.1 million ($2.20 a share) compared to $234.7 million ($1.71 a share) in 1996.
Agrium said world urea nitrogen prices have been weakened because China has not been a buyer. But it expects China will start buying again early in 1998.
