TORONTO, Aug. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Last night Maple Leaf Foods announced a further recall of products related to the positive finding of Listeria monocytogenes in some products manufactured at its Bartor Road facility. This follows a recall announced on August 19th. Management estimates that the Company will incur direct costs related to the recalls, primarily reimbursement for returned product, factory sanitation and other direct expenses, of approximately $20 million before taxes and expects that the charge will be included in the third quarter ended September 2008.
This estimate is based on information available to the Company at this time and is subject to change, depending on the actual amounts of product returned by customers.
The Company may incur future costs related to increased advertising and other consumer communications and may experience reduced sales for a period of time. The Company is not able to estimate these impacts at this time.
Forward-Looking Statements --------------------------
This document contains, and the Company's oral and written public communications often contain, forward-looking statements that are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about the industries in which the Company operates and beliefs and assumptions made by the Management of the Company. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to our objectives and goals, as well as statements with respect to our beliefs, plans, objectives, expectations, anticipations, estimates and intentions. Words such as "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "attempt", "may", "will", "plan", "believe", "seek", "estimate", and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve assumptions and risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed, implied or forecasted in such forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, or whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise except as required by law.
These forward-looking statements are based on a variety of factors and assumptions including, but not limited to: the condition of the Canadian and United States economies; the rate of appreciation of the Canadian dollar versus the U.S. dollar and Japanese yen; the availability and saleability of prices of livestock, raw materials, energy and supplies; product pricing; the competitive environment and related market conditions; improvement of operating efficiencies; continued access to capital; the cost of compliance with environmental and health standards; adverse results from ongoing litigation; no expected actions of domestic and foreign governments and the general assumption that none of the risks identified under "Risk Factors" in the Company's 2007 Annual Information Form will materialize. These assumptions have been derived from information currently available to the Company including information obtained by the Company from third-party industry analysts.
Actual results may differ materially from those predicted by such forward-looking statements. While the Company does not know what impact any of these differences may have on its business, results of operations, financial condition and the market price of its securities may be materially adversely affected. Factors that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from the results expressed or implied by forward-looking statements are discussed more fully in the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis for the year ended December 31, 2007, which is available on SEDAR at http://www.sedar.com/.
Maple Leaf Foods Inc. is a leading food processing company, headquartered in Toronto, Canada. The Company employs approximately 23,500 people at its operations across Canada and in the United States, the United Kingdom and Asia. The Company had sales of $5.2 billion in 2007.
