Canada’s two main pulse processing firms had good third quarters and continue to diversify.
Alliance Grain Traders Inc. posted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $14.4 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30, up from $11.5 million for the same period a year ago.
“It’s certainly a positive turn of performance for the company,” said AGT president Murad Al-Katib.
“It’s largely a result of the fact that our global footprint has become very diversified.”
A company that was once known exclusively as a lentil processor estimates that lentils now comprise 35 percent of its business.
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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 goal is to reduce the reliance on lentils to 25 to 33 percent by focusing on other product lines such as chickpeas, beans, pasta, bulgur wheat, rice and pulse ingredients.
Legumex Walker Inc. also had an encouraging quarter with $2.4 million of EBITDA posted by its special crops division, up from $434,000 a year ago. The segment has provided $8 million to cash flow this year, up from $3.6 million for the first three quarters a year ago.
“That’s just tremendous,” said company president Joel Horn. “To have special crops kicking off that much cash is just really, really good as we’re launching the canola facility.”
Special crop earnings were partially offset by losses of $1.02 million in the oilseed processing division because of costs associated with the final commissioning and initial commercialization of the company’s Pacific Coast Canola (PCC) facility.
The PCC plant crushed 21,000 tonnes of canola in September, operating at two-thirds of the facility’s capacity. The company sold 18,600 tonnes, generating $730,000 of EBITDA, which was the plant’s first positive monthly contribution.
“You can kind of feel it within the company that this major investment we’ve made in PCC is now starting to contribute,” said Horn.
