Thank you for standing by welcome to the Canada Packers Inc. 2025 annual results conference call. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a Q&A session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by 1 on your telephone keypad. Thank you. I'd now like to turn the call over to Anne-Marie Gerber. You may begin.
Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining Canada Packers' 4th quarter 2025 financial and operating results conference call and webcast. My name is Anne-Marie Gerber, and I am the Director of Communications for Canada Packers. This conference call is being recorded today and is also available through an audio webcast on the company's website. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent background noise. Following the speaker's remarks, there will be time for questions. Analysts and investors are reminded that questions can also be directed to Canada Packers at any time to investors@canadapackers.com. This call contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws relating to activities, events, or developments the company believes or expects will or may occur in the future. Forward-looking information reflects the current expectations, assumptions, and beliefs of the company based on information currently available to it.
Although the company believes the assumptions are reasonable, forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance. Forward-looking information is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results of the company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking information. Company documents filed from time to time with securities regulatory authorities describe the risks, uncertainties, material assumptions, and other factors that could influence actual results. Any forward-looking information speaks only as of the date which it is made, and the company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking information except as required by law. Earlier this morning, Canada Packers issued a press release disclosing its Q4 and annual 2025 financial results.
The press release, as well as our Q4 and annual financial statements and management's discussion and analysis, were filed on SEDAR+ and also may be accessed on the company's website under the Reports and Filings section of the Investors tab at canadapackers.com. We will also post the quarterly investor presentation to our website, which can be found under the Investors tab under Events and Presentations. I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Dennis Organ, President and Chief Executive Officer of Canada Packers. Dennis, the call is yours.
Okay. Thank you, Anne-Marie, and hello, everyone. We delivered a solid Q4 and full year demonstrating the power of our disciplined execution, optimized global sales mix, and distinctive product portfolio. Our results are entirely consistent with what we expected and with what we've outlined to the market. The drivers of our earnings are clear and visible and can be modeled with public market data. This quarter played out that way and shows how our business model is built to perform across cycles. Let me start with volume. Canada Packers has a capital-light growth profile because we still have room in our existing plants. Today, we're operating at about 78% of capacity based on a 5.5-day workweek. Our plan is to grow that volume 2%-3% a year as we fill that capacity.
In fiscal 2025, we grew volume by more than 4%, which is well ahead of that plan. That outperformance came from strong execution across the company. Our focus is simple: manage the controllables and execute at a high level. The market variables are visible and easy to model. When you combine that visibility with disciplined commercial and operational performance, leveraging our premium products and strategic global customers, you get results that are both strong and predictable. Now let me talk about profitability. Our goal is to consistently deliver adjusted EBITDA margins in the 8%-12% range across the cycle. In Q4, we delivered a 10.8% margin. For the full year, pro forma adjusted EBITDA was CAD 191 million, with improvements in both margin and dollars versus our prior year pro forma. Commercial execution was a key driver of these results.
During the quarter, we again leveraged our portfolio of premium, value-added, sustainably produced products to meet the needs of strategic customers around the world, selling a better mix of products to a better mix of countries. We continue to optimize the whole hog across our customer base, placing each cut with the customer and geography that delivers the best value. Our agility allows us to shift volumes to the most attractive markets as conditions change. That flexibility supports our durable margin profile. Our strong performance converted into free cash flow. In our Q1 as a public company, we reached the low end of our strategic leverage ratio range and declared our first dividend. Going forward, disciplined and balanced capital allocation will be a hallmark of Canada Packers. Our priorities are clear: strengthen the balance sheet to build financial flexibility and return cash to shareholders in a sustainable way.
We're also continuing to build the team to support the next phase. We recently added Anthony Wu as Senior Vice President of Sales, Marketing, and Optimization, Andrew Scuccato as Senior Vice President of Supply Chain, and Katrina McFadden as Senior Vice President, People. We also appointed Suzanne Hathaway as Interim Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary. These additions build on the strong team we already have as we scale volume and enter the next phase of growth. To sum it up, Canada Packers is continuing to set a new global standard for premium, sustainably produced pork. Our distinctive portfolio and optimized sales mix are driving profitability and durability. Supported by strong global customer partnerships and a disciplined Whole Hog Utilization Strategy, we are well-positioned to continue to deliver resilient, best-in-class margins.
We're confident in our chapter one plan, fill our plants, continue to drive operational excellence, and use free cash flow to strengthen the balance sheet, so we're positioned for chapter 2 opportunities over time. With that, I'll turn it over to Deepak.
Thank you, Dennis, and good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to report on our Q1 of standalone financial performance as a public company. We delivered strong year-over-year performance in the quarter as we continued to execute against key drivers of profitability, generated strong free cash flow, and strengthened our balance sheet. As we mentioned last quarter, it is important to note that prior to July 28th, Canada Packers did not operate as a standalone business within Maple Leaf Foods. Until we reach the anniversary of our operating independently, our prior year comparatives will reflect carved-out statements, and where relevant, I will be referencing estimated pro forma numbers because we believe they better reflect the operating performance of Canada Packers as a standalone entity.
Total sales for the Q4 of 2025 were CAD 429.4 million, an increase of 6.2% or CAD 25.2 million when compared to pro forma Q4 2024 sales. For the full year, total pro forma sales were CAD 1.79 billion, an increase of 12.8% compared to pro forma 2024 sales. Our Q4 sales growth was driven by higher volumes, higher average hog weights, and favorable market pricing. Our Q4 hog processing volumes improved to 1.03 million hogs, a 1.7% increase compared to prior year. On a full year basis, processed hog volumes were 4.17 million or 4.3% above prior year.
In the Q4, about 47% of hogs processed were internally sourced and 53% were purchased from external suppliers, compared to 44% and 56% respectively in the prior year. We reported adjusted EBITDA for the quarter of CAD 46.3 million, representing an increase of CAD 7.6 million or 19.5% when compared to pro forma Q4 2024 adjusted EBITDA. The Q4 adjusted EBITDA margin of 10.8% was 120 basis point improvement over our Q4 2024 pro forma margin. For the full year 2025, the pro forma adjusted EBITDA of CAD 191.5 million was CAD 61 million or 47% higher than 2024 pro forma adjusted EBITDA.
The full year pro forma adjusted EBITDA margin of 10.7% was 250 basis point increase over 2024 pro forma adjusted EBITDA margin. In Q4, increased profitability of our premium value-added pork products was positively impacted by improvements to on-farm performance, increased hog processing volumes, and targeted sales to strategic global customers. Our results also benefited from improved year-over-year market conditions driven by the vertically integrated spread, while the packer spread remained relatively flat. During the Q4, we invested CAD 12.5 million in capital, compared with CAD 9.5 million in the Q4 of prior year. On a full year basis, capital spend was CAD 38.9 million compared to prior year of CAD 30.6 million.
In the Q4, we reported free cash flow of CAD 36.7 million, an increase of 58% or CAD 13.4 million due to strong profitability discussed earlier. The balance sheet and in line with stated priorities, net debt ended the year at CAD 341.7 million, as strong cash flow from operations allowed us to repay CAD 15 million towards our bank loan. This resulted in a leverage ratio of 1.8x based on our pro forma adjusted EBITDA and is at the lower end of our strategic range. We are also pleased to announce our Q1 dividend of CAD 0.23 per share to be paid out on March 31, 2026.
This reflects the durability of our profitability and our ability to generate strong free cash flow, allowing us to execute our capital allocation priorities of deleveraging and returning capital to our shareholders. I will now turn the call back over to Dennis.
Thank you, Deepak. Overall, our performance reflects disciplined execution and progress on the commitments we've made to shareholders and all stakeholders. As we continue to execute how we do it matters. Proudly raised, responsibly made is our purpose. It guides every decision we make. We will run a transparent business focused on durable earnings and conservative financial management. We're encouraged by our start as a public company and remain focused on execution. With that, we'll open the call for questions.
Thank you. We will now begin the Q&A session. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star one in your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press star one again. Your first question today comes from the line of Irene Nattel from RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.
Dennis, good morning, guys. Congratulations on your Q1 as an independent company. Quick question. On the volume of hogs processed, you know, there's been, over the course of 2025, there was some unevenness in year-over-year numbers on a quarterly basis. How should we be thinking about the cadence on a go-forward basis, please?
I guess I would say because these are sort of long-term, you know, it takes 7 or 8 months to bring hogs to market, there'll always be some lumpiness in it. Last year, a lot of that came from the improvements we made on our farms and as those pigs arrived to market. The annual number we feel really good about. Quarter to quarter, there may be some moves.
Understood. Just switching gears, on the free cash flow and balance sheet. You've achieved your objective of leverage under 2 times quite quickly. You continue to talk about using free cash flow to optimize the balance sheet, return capital to shareholders. How does that translate practically in 2026 now that you're at your target?
Hi, Irene, it's Deepak calling. We'll continue to de-leverage the balance sheet. That still will be a primary objective for 2026. Not much will change from what we've previously stated around that, Irene. We'll continue to just as we generate that cash, we'll look for opportunities to reinvest back in the business, you know, as we continue to spend on our deferred maintenance range. We'll also be looking to continue to de-leverage that balance sheet. Even though we're on the lower end of the range, we still have some room to go there.
Here's the way I think about it, Irene. I think we've got a lot of people understanding why we describe our business as transparent, right? With the models that everybody has now and how this quarter came in roughly in line with what people expected. We believe that we have durable earnings, but we think quarter after quarter, we're gonna build that credibility with folks out there. That's why we're still focused on just consistently ringing up some quarters, getting our balance sheet in shape and being patient. There's plenty of things to do in the future, but right now we're focused on durability and transparency.
Understood. Thank you very much.
Yep. Thanks, Irene.
Your next question comes from the line of Luke Hannan from Canaccord Genuity. Your line is open.
Thanks. Good morning, everyone. Dennis, I wanted to go back to one comment that you made during your prepared remarks, talking about the transition to chapter 2. Before you have spoken about chapter one being sort of more focused on execution, chapter 2 maybe being a little bit more open when it comes to capital allocation and M&A, for example. Just given how quickly you have been able to de-lever post-spin and how it seems like there's nothing, at least in the near term, where that pace will change, does that accelerate the path or the move from chapter one to chapter 2? Maybe it would be helpful if you could just remind us what each of those chapters entails. Thanks.
That's a great question. We actually felt this change in investors' questions probably over the last 6 months or so, which, again, because our business is so transparent, as soon as you get your head around the models, people start looking forward with more confidence. It took us a while to get everybody sort of aligned there. I think we're there. That's a great question. Again, we're focused on just the durability of our business, again, quarter after quarter of delivering, but that doesn't mean our responsibility isn't to look out into the future. chapter one is just that, spin out, stabilize, build the financial flexibility to take care of or to take advantage of opportunities as they come. Sometimes things happen opportunistically.
We wanna be able to take advantage of those, and we're getting our balance sheet in the position to do that. Other times, it's gonna take a concerted effort. The only thing I really wanna say about chapter 2 today, because I want everybody focused that we are still squarely in chapter one, is when we get to the M&A area, there are things that I would describe as things we could buy, because people would be willing to sell them, things that could be accretive for our business that may or may not fit into other people's long-term objectives and things that exist in our business that we could already margin up on. The real simple example I've always used, and it's just one, is we sell pig ears to people today.
They smoke that pig ear and sell it as a pet treat. That person is in the middle is, small mom-and-pop type shop, and they're adding a lot of value. Just think along those lines. When we do get into that mode, the things we think about are easy to explain to investors why it makes sense, accretive from any financial perspective that you would assign, in a lot of ways, a cost synergy versus a revenue synergy, and easy for us to execute. The degree of difficulty should be relatively low, for us.
I love the fact that people are questioning us about chapter 2 because it means that you believe we're gonna be successful in chapter one, and that's what I'd like to reiterate.
Very helpful. Thank you. Then as my follow-up here, I'll pass the line. In the past, you've talked about those certain KPIs that you track when it comes to your hog raising and processing metrics and your ultimate goal to get Canada Packers to close to the head of the pack across all those KPIs. Can you just give us a sense, maybe in the first couple quarters now, as being a public company, what progress have you made on those KPIs? Have you captured more of that lower hanging fruit, for example? What of those KPIs should we be thinking about on more of a longer term basis?
Yeah. I, there's roughly 12 that we track. They're widely known throughout the industry. We're solidly in the top 25% of North American hog production companies and feeling really good about that. I don't really wanna get into the individual KPIs and how we're doing. There's still a little bit of room. There's always a little bit of room, but I would describe it as a little bit versus we've made the big moves over the years. We're solidly in top 25%.
Got it. Appreciate it. Thank you.
Yeah. Thanks, Luke.
As a reminder, it is star one to ask a question. Your next question comes from the line of Michael van Aelst from TD Cowen. Your line is open.
Hey, guys. First of all, I wanted to ask about the hedges, what you have in place for 2026 and how we should be looking at that.
Yeah. We're not gonna disclose hedge positions. The only thing I'd say now that you guys are following markets is, there's plenty of public information on the markets that impact us, and just remember that we have a robust, experienced hedge, risk management group that is gonna take all the appropriate actions that can de-risk our business.
All right. I won't push on that then. What's your CapEx looking like for 2026?
Basically right on target.
Yeah. In line, Mike, with 2025, so in that, you know, CAD 39 million-CAD 40 million range.
I mean, if assuming the business stays stable and you have all this cash flow generation, you said earlier that you wanna return cash to shareholders in a sustainable way. Then you talked about deleveraging further. When you talk about returning cash to shareholders, is it strictly through the dividend or is there other ways that you might consider?
I mean, at this stage, Mike, it's through the dividend. We'll continue to deleverage at the same time. There's always, as you know, opportunities to return shareholders at different ways, but nothing has been determined at this point.
Then finally, you launched the Canada Packers branded products out, I think in western Canada earlier this year. I'm curious how the performance has been for those products and where you're seeing, you know, what kind of margin lift you could see if that has really caught on.
Yeah. I... Let me clarify that because that's my comment. Our branded product or they're working their way through the system as we speak now in boxes and bags with Canada Packers on it. I wanted to clarify that I'm not underwriting any margin improvement because of that. Those are on existing products and existing sales. What makes us... Couple reasons why we're excited about it. One is just the fact that we're a new company. We're all excited about seeing our name out there in the real world.
2, we just feel like if consumers knew the amount of products that are sold in Canada that are coming from other countries, most primarily the U.S., when we're side by side for those, we feel like it's going to help us maybe, you know, tie goes to the runner type stuff. I did wanna clarify that. Super excited about it. It's on a lot of bags and boxes, not underwriting a margin lift because of it, we feel like it's timely for us out there, not just Western Canada, actually, it's globally. All of our bags and boxes are moving to Canada Packer branded where applicable.
You're not actually putting branded product on retail shelves?
No, there's Canada Packers branded items. I'm not underwriting that that is gonna let us... I'm not saying that that's gonna allow us to margin up specifically, but just think about it from the perspective of, one, our brands are out there, and 2, in a time where Canadian nationalism kind of means something, we think it, it could help us maybe secure ads and things. We're not looking for measurable margin lists because of it.
Okay. Perfect. Thank you.
You guys just caught me excited about it, now I know I'm gonna answer these questions for a while.
All right. Thank you.
Yeah.
Your next question comes from the line of Étienne Ricard from BMO Capital Markets. Your line is open.
Thank you, and good morning. As you continue increasing utilization over the next few years, how much of this incremental production do you expect will be absorbed by your Canadian clients relative to international clients?
Yeah, I mean, I would kinda point people to that 40/40/20 that we've set on revenue, 40% North America, 40% export, 20% to Maple Leaf. We are assuming more of this growth is gonna come from Southeast Asia just because that's where the growth is happening in the globe. Skewed more towards export.
What initiatives from a, from a sales perspective are you pursuing, internationally? You raised Asia, so in that market in particular.
We won't have to set up a new customer or a new item. It's just allowing us to have more volume to sell the premium products that we sell to our existing customer base. It's not quite as complicated as it sounds.
Okay. Japan, this was a good revenue growth geography for you this year. What explains this good performance? Would you expect Japan to represent a larger share of revenues over time?
Yeah, because That's where I think our growth is going to come from, those markets, Southeast Asia. Yes, I think over time, if you look back at our revenue split, that our export revenue split will be higher. We're seeing some good growth in Mexico as well.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Your next question comes from the line of Mark Petrie from CIBC. Your line is open.
Yeah, good morning. Thanks for all the comments so far. You've covered it very thoroughly and appreciate that. I did wanna ask, maybe just follow up, Dennis, I'm not sure if there's anything you can add, but it sounds like there might be some disruption to industry structure in the U.S., and I understand that that would be part of something in, you know, chapter 2, so it's not for today. Is that something that could present opportunities or potentially threats for Canada Packers? Like, how do you think about that?
I guess I'm not exactly sure what industry disruption you're talking about.
Oh, I guess, well, just some proposals, I guess, politically to break up some of the players in the.
Oh
... in the meat industry.
Yeah. I'm not gonna comment on all that. It's so speculative at this point. I don't know.
Yeah, fair enough. Me neither. Thanks.
Yeah.
There are no further questions. I will now turn the call back over to management for some final closing remarks.
I'm just gonna end simply by saying thank you. It feels really good to be at this point. I think we got a lot of alignment with all stakeholders externally and internally. I'm super proud of all the employees at Canada Packers that bring this to light. As a matter of fact, I was thinking last night, just the amount of effort that it takes to make something like an earnings call and earnings release happen. I just wanna end by saying thank you to all the investors and analysts that have stuck with us and gave us time, the time to understand our business. We won't let you down. Thank you to all of the Canada Packers employees that make it happen every day, it was sometimes a remarkable feat.
Thank you to all of our customers around the globe. We're proud to be associated with you. Thank you, everybody.
This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.