Dear shareholders, staff members, and partners of Lassonde Industries, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. My name is Nathalie Lassonde, I am the Executive Chair of the company's board of directors. I welcome you to our annual general meeting of shareholders. This year, we are once again holding a virtual assembly which takes place simultaneously in French and English. Accompanying me today, Mrs. Caroline Lemoine, Head of Legal Affairs and Company Secretary. Mr. Vincent Timpano, Chief Executive Officer of the company, as well as Mr. Éric Gemme, Chief Financial Officer of the company. Thank you for your presence today and for your interest in our company. I now give the floor to Mrs. Caroline Lemoine to present the elements relating to the conduct of the meeting and to cover the two items on the agenda, which are to be voted on. Thank you.
In accordance with the society's bylaws, Mrs. Lassonde will act as chair of the meeting, and I will act as secretary. Mr. Bertrand Gély and Mrs. Jenny Konkam of TSX Trust Company are acting as scrutineers and will report the number of shareholders attending the meeting and the number of votes cast. As described in our management proxy circular, you will be, if you are a registered shareholder or a proxy holder, to vote or ask questions during the meeting. To do this, you must have registered as such on the electronic platform, the control number included in the meeting documentation. In accordance with the company's regulations, voting on any resolution will be done through the virtual platform. Voting will be open for all resolutions at the same time in the section on the left of your screen.
Shareholders who have already sent their proxy to TSX Trust Company do not need to do anything unless they wish to change their vote. Shareholders will be able to choose to vote on each and every resolution immediately or wait until the discussion on each resolution is complete before voting. The scrutineers will collect the votes of the shareholders or proxy holders when the vote on the last resolution on the agenda is completed. For the questions scheduled, the question period scheduled rather, at the end of the meeting, shareholders and registered proxy holders may intervene via the messaging function on the electronic platform. We invite you to submit your questions as soon as possible before the question period scheduled at the end of the presentation, so that they can be addressed in a timely manner.
Your questions and comments will be forwarded to the meeting chair, who will ask the appropriate person to respond. We also ask a shareholder to propose and second the resolutions to be adopted at the meeting in order to facilitate its smooth running. The company used the notice and access procedure to make its meeting materials available and sent a notice, including all relevant information in this regard, to all its shareholders during the month of April 2025. The proxy circular, notice of meeting, the consolidated financial statements, as well as auditors' report, are available on our website and under the company's profile on the SEDAR+ website. I have received the scrutineer's report on the shareholders represented at the meeting. As the required quorum is reached, the meeting is regularly constituted. I will now include the contents of the scrutineer's report in the minutes of the meeting.
We will now proceed to the election of directors. I would ask Mr. Anthony Proud, a shareholder of the company, to formulate a proposal relating to the election of the eight candidates described in the management proxy circular. Thank you, Mrs. Lemoyne. I propose that Guy Bélanger, Denis Boudreault, Paul Bouthillier, Luc Doyon, Nathalie Lassonde, Pierre-Paul Lassonde, Pierre Lessard, as well as Nathalie Pi-Pilon, be elected directors of the company for the upcoming year and until the appointment or election of their successors. Thank you, Mr. Proud. I declare the nominations for the election of directors closed. I now invite shareholders to vote for each proposed director by electronic voting in the section on the left of the screen. The next item on the agenda is the appointment of the company's auditors. I would once again ask Mr. Proud to make a proposal on this matter.
Thank you. I propose that Deloitte be appointed as the company's external auditor until the next annual general meeting of shareholders and that its remuneration be set by the directors. Shareholders are invited to vote via electronic voting in the section on the left of the screen. If you haven't already done so, please complete your votes. The voting period is now closed. Taking into account the proxies filed and the votes compiled, I do declare the directors proposed at this meeting duly elected and Deloitte duly appointed as auditor of the company. SEDAR+ website. In addition, we report on the selection of each director in a press release. I now give the floor to Mrs. Nathalie Lassonde so that she can give us her comments regarding the company's affairs. Thank you, Caroline.
In a few minutes, Vince and Éric will review the operational and financial highlights of fiscal year 2024 as well as our outlook. Before doing so, I would like to say a few words to you. Fiscal year 2024 ended with solid operating results rather. On the one hand, we posted record sale of CAD 2.6 billion, More importantly, our profitability did improve significantly as compared to the previous year. I would like to take this opportunity to warmly thank all our staff members who contributed to these excellent results. Their passion and commitment are matched only by their talents to offer you tasty and quality products.
After more than 60 years in the family business, my father, Pierre-Paul Lassonde, has passed the torch of chairmanship of the board of directors to the next generation to continue to achieve our organization's vision and objectives for the future. I am honored by this vote of confidence and know that I am fully committed to perpetuating the values that have made Lassonde what it is today. In other words, integrity, respect, community, and responsibility. I do know that my father is listening, so on behalf of all Lassonde Industries employees and partners, we thank you. We are also very pleased that you will continue to serve on the board so that we can all benefit from your extensive experience. By the way, Timpano was also appointed CEO last summer.
Since joining in 2020, Vince has distinguished himself through his strategic vision, inspiring leadership, and decisive contribution to the successful implementations of our strategy, which will be instrumental to our future growth. His adherence to our values and his extensive business experience are important assets for us. I also wish to highlight the contribution of two directors who did not seek renewal of their mandate today. First of all, Mrs. Chantal Bélanger, who has served on the board for the past 20 years and also held the position of Chair of the Audit Committee. Her wise advice and constant concern for compliance with corporate governance have been important assets during this period of strong growth for the company. Mr. Michel Simard, administrator since 2018.
We benefited from Michel's extensive experience, having worked at Lassonde for over 30 years until he retired in 2016 rather. He has held several management positions, notably in human resources management, in addition to acting as deputy CEO. Chantal and Michel, we sincerely thank you for your contribution. We wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors. We welcome a new director, Mr. Guy Bélanger, who will bring new skills and a different perspective to the board, thanks to his extensive experience in the food industry, mainly in industrial productivity and technological solutions. We wish him a warm welcome. The company's board of directors now consists of 8 directors, 6 of whom are independent. As you know, our family expanded in 2024 with the acquisition of Summer Garden Food Manufacturing in Ohio.
Around 200 talented employee have joined us. It's clear that we share the very same values, which will facilitate the achievement of our objectives. While our North American expansion primarily involves growing our business in the U.S., Lassonde is a Canadian headquartered company that is very proud of its roots. This is why we recently launched a new marketing campaign designed to highlight and to promote our Quebec and Canadian roots as well as our brands. This campaign, whose theme is Our Heart Is Here, aims to capitalize on the growing desire of Canadian consumers to support local businesses. Our national brand, Oasis, is also an integral part of the campaign.
We highlight its local heritage and the fact that all its products are bottled in Canada with the slogan, "It gives you the taste of being at home." In conclusion, I am very pleased with the progress made over the last financial year. In addition, the initiatives to be announced shortly aimed at increasing the reach of our network bode well for achieving our long-term growth objectives and ensuring sustainable value creation to our shareholders. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attention, and I now turn the floor over to Vince Timpano for a review of our activities. Thank you, Nathalie, and thank you for these kind words. Hello, ladies and gentlemen. I am very happy to be with you today to discuss about our 2024 achievements.
The update to provide an update on our progress against our strategy and reaffirm our ambitions and priorities for the future. Continuing our momentum from 2023, Lassonde delivered a solid performance in 2024. We ended the year with record sales rather of CAD 2.6 billion, up more than 12% from the previous year, and a strong operating profit growth through 2023. I am also proud to mention that all our divisions have contributed to these results, each showing positive growth as compared to the previous year. We have made significant progress in the implementation of our strategy. We have also completed a major acquisition which has expanded our specialty food offering.
We announced new investment projects to strengthen the competitiveness of our beverage manufacturing network in the United States and further solidified our leadership in the Canadian market. These accomplishments would not have been possible without the passion, the dedication, and the hard work of all Lassonde staff members. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their contribution. Let's now take a closer look at the performance of our business units, starting with Canadian beverages. Lassonde is the leader in the production of fruit juices and beverages in Canada. We have more than a century of experience, and we are uniquely positioned to meet the needs of Canadian consumers and customers. Our portfolio includes a strong and well-established national brand, Oasis, which was named Canada's most trusted juice brand by BrandSpark for the third consecutive year.
We are also proud of our leading national and regional brands, Sun-Rype in the West, Hellmann's in Ontario, Rougemont in Quebec, and Graves in Eastern Canada. We do complement this impressive portfolio with brands like Kiju and Del Monte, whose SureGlass product line was selected as a finalist for the Retail Council of Canada's Grand Prix New Product Award. In addition, Lassonde is a trusted partner for major Canadian retailers, offering them a wide range of national and private label juices and beverages. This, thanks to our diversified product portfolio, our extensive market presence, and our long-standing customer relationships rather, we have gained market share, thus strengthening our leadership position in 2024. This momentum continued into early 2025, driven by new products, effective merchandising, and the Buy Canadian movement.
Also diligently executed our pricing strategy amid significant cost inflation affecting orange juice and concentrate. We mitigated a portion of the inflation through innovation measures to reduce our exposure to orange, effective promotion plans and productivity improvements with new high-speed juice box lines in Rougemont. We are very mindful of the impact pricing has on our customers' and consumers' purchasing decisions, as well as their evolving shopping behaviors. Our extensive portfolio of branded and private label products, combined with our presence across various shopping channels, provide consumers with a comprehensive offering. Supporting this goal, we invested CAD 10 million in Rougemont to introduce a new bag and box aseptic packaging line for beverage dispensers.
The line became operational slightly ahead of schedule, and the positive response we've received validates our view of strong potential for this niche market. The packaging format offers convenient dispensing, which makes it ideal for a wider range of customers in food service, such as quick-serve restaurants and convenience stores. Additional bulk aseptic packaging formats are also available and will support sales to industrial customers. This investment represents a significant step forward and allows us to expand our presence and deliver efficient, customizable beverage solutions to the food service channel across North America and expand our reach with industrial supply. Moving on to U.S. beverage activities. We made important gains in 2024, driven by sustained progress in building back volume following the portfolio simplification process completed in 2023.
In a category that saw a slight decline, we gained market share, driven by a 10% volume growth realized through existing customers and by gaining new ones. We also continued to optimize conversion costs by improving our efficiency with further insourcing of aseptic juice box production and overall volume growth, contributing to improved fixed cost absorption. During the year, we also added capacity to support growth, including the commissioning of the new single-serve line in North Carolina last summer. While single-serve formats remain volume driver of our U.S.-branded operations, they are also an important tool in capturing opportunities in the private label market as we pursue our rebuild plan. They also allow us to deliver on a key priority to expand our presence in the away-from-home channel and to further enhance the long-term competitiveness of our U.S. manufacturing network. We announced last fall an important multi-year capital investment program.
We are investing approximately $200 million in the construction of a new state-of-the-art facility in New Jersey. This new facility will enable Lassonde to fortify its competitive position in the U.S. Northeast by improving operating efficiency and delivering incremental volume at lower cost per case. We expect to gradually transfer existing production activities starting in late 2026 and to complete this transition by the end of 2027. We are also committed to further expanding the role of our North Carolina plant as a strategic aseptic production hub by investing an additional $20 million to bring back in-house certain production assets previously deployed at a co-packer, giving us new juice box production capabilities in the U.S.
This insourcing is on schedule to be completed in the second half of 2025. It will allow us to unlock additional volume for U.S. branded products and provide more flexibility to meet incremental demand. This brings our total investment in North Carolina, inclusive of our new single-serve line, to close to $80 million since 2023. Turning to specialty food. 2024 was a pivotal year for Lassonde in this category. Supporting our ambition to become a more diversified North America food and beverage player, we completed the acquisition of Summer Garden Food Manufacturing last August. This acquisition nearly doubled our size in specialty food, expanded our U.S. reach, and enhanced our position as a leading manufacturer of retort-based products. It also provides access to diversified growth platforms through three new brands and new third-party brand relationships, enhancing our growth potential and profitability.
With Little Italy in the Bronx, we boosted our presence in premium pasta sauces, a segment experiencing above average growth, while Gia Russa offers a range of high-quality Italian food products, including pasta sauces. Moreover, the G Hughes brand gave us a solid foothold in adjacent categories, such as sugar-free barbecue sauces and condiments. It's been almost a year since we announced this transaction, and I am very pleased with how the teams have come together. While integrations can take time, we have been able to structure the business in a manner that embraces the Lassonde operating model while preserving the core Summer Garden team and leveraging our respective know-how. Meanwhile, our legacy operations had a strong year, achieving solid sales growth in retort products, mainly for premium glass jar soups and sauces, as well as strong performance in the broth category.
Lastly, let me touch on our snack business, one that came to us through our acquisition of Sun-Rype in 2020. We are proud of our position in this segment, standing as the second-largest branded fruit snack player in Canada, producing 100% fruit strips, bars, and bites sold under our own Fruit to Go and Fruitsource brands. Snacks also had a strong year in 2024, gaining share in the category. Now before turning the meeting over to Éric, let me highlight a few organizational changes that support the continued evolution of our operating model, starting with the creation of our new North American Beverage division. This division comprises our 2 U.S. beverage business units, our flagship beverage business unit in Canada, and our newly consolidated North American food service business unit. To lead this division, Amanda Burns was appointed Chief Commercial Officer, North American Beverages.
Amanda previously served as President, U.S. Private Label, where she played a key role developing and executing Project Eagle, our initiative to revitalize U.S. beverage activities. Gabriela Arrillaga was appointed Chief Marketing Officer for North American Beverages. Her mandate includes establishing best practices, capturing synergy, and building a growth-oriented portfolio through innovation. In parallel, Gabby remains General Manager of our U.S. National Brands business unit. Elizabeth Hill was named General Manager, Private Label Beverages U.S. Having joined Lassonde 22 years ago, she has extensive experience in sales and marketing, building dynamic teams, and stimulating growth through a focus and commitment to helping customers achieve their objectives. For Canada, Martin Lauzière.
In Canada, Martin Lauzière has been appointed General Manager, Beverages Canada. Since joining Lassonde in 2008, Martin has held various leadership positions, including Senior Vice President, Financial Planning and Performance Management for the past 2 years. Ladies and gentlemen, I now give the floor to Éric Gemme for the financial review. I will be back in a few minutes to discuss our prospects. Thank you, Vince. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I will now present the financial highlights for 2024 and then follow with a brief overview of the first quarter 2025 results released last week. Please do note that most amounts have been rounded to simplify the presentation. I will also mention financial measures or ratio that are not in accordance with IFRS, mainly to promote comparability between periods.
A reconciliation of these measures and ratios with the measures in accordance with IFRS standards is provided at the end of the presentation. Finally, note that our results reflect the acquisition of Summer Garden since August 8, as well as the results of Diamond Estates for the full year compared to 6 weeks in 2023. As Vince mentioned, fiscal year 2024 was marked by a strong financial performance, both in terms of sales and profitability. Sales were CAD 2.6 billion, up 12.4% from the previous year. Excluding exchange rate fluctuations favorable and sales from acquisitions, these increased by 7.1%.
This increase reflects an increase in sales volume in the United States, both for private and national brands, and adjustments to sales price in the Canadian market, essentially to compensate for inflation in the price of oranges, both in the form of juice and concentrate. These elements were mitigated by the less favorable composition of sales in the United States. Note that if the Summer Garden acquisition had taken place in January 1, 2024, sales for the fiscal year would have reached approximately CAD 2.7 billion. Gross margin totaled CAD 698 million or 26.8% of sales, as compared to CAD 588 million or 25.4% a year earlier.
Besides the contribution of acquisitions, the main factors explaining the gross margin increase are increase in sales volume, the annualized effect of price increases, optimization of conversion costs attributable to improved operational efficiency. These elements were partly offset by an increase in the cost of inputs, mainly oranges. Selling and administrative expenses did increase by CAD 71 million, approximately half of which was due to the consolidation of these expenses for acquired entities. Excluding these, the increase reflected an increase in transportation and storage costs for finished products, especially in the U.S., and largely caused by an increase in sales volume, approximately CAD 10 million costs related to the acquisition of Summer Garden and an increase in certain administration costs. These increases were mitigated by a reduction in performance-related compensation costs.
As a result, operating income for 2024 was CAD 175 million, as compared to CAD 135 million in 2023. Excluding items that do affect comparability, adjusted operating income was CAD 198 million or 7.6% of sales, as compared to CAD 145 million or 6.2% of sales in 2023. Reflecting the items discussed above, adjusted EBITDA increased 33% to CAD 276 million or 10.6% of sales as compared to CAD 207 million or 9% in 2023. If the Summer Garden acquisition had occurred on January 1, 2024, adjusted EBITDA would have been CAD 307 million or 11.2% of sales.
Income attributable to the company's shareholders reached CAD 114 million or CAD 16.73 per share, as compared to CAD 88 million or CAD 12.83 per share in the previous year. Income per share was CAD 0.195 in 2024, up 45% from 2023. Let's look at our cash flows. Cash flows from operating activities totaled CAD 234 million, up from CAD 225 million in 2023. This increase reflects flows generated by acquisitions, an increase in EBITDA, as well as a net withdrawal from defined benefit plans. These items were offset by a decrease in funds generated from working capital and an increase in taxes and interest paid.
With respects to the flows generated in 2024 by the working capital, it is important to note that we did conclude the year with a ratio of days invested in operating working capital lower than historical levels. We do expect this ratio to increase somewhat in fiscal year 2025, but it should remain within a historical range at the end of the fiscal year. That being said, we do not rule out using our balance sheet, if necessary, to guarantee prices or the availability of certain inputs, as we have done in the past, including during this first quarter. Financing activities generated CAD 217 million, while using CAD 92 million in 2023.
These funds generated in 2024 do reflect a net increase of CAD 241 million in our resolving operating credits, primarily to finance the acquisition of Summer Garden, partially offset by dividends paid in the amount of CAD 27 million. Investing activities used CAD 441 million as compared to CAD 115 million in the prior year. This investment reflects an amount of CAD 325 million to acquire Summer Garden and cash outflows of CAD 116 million related to acquisition of tangible and intangible assets.
In 2025, our capital investments are expected to reach up to 9% of our sales, including approximately $100 million related to the construction of the plant in New Jersey and $20 million related to the internalization of production in North Carolina. For the coming years, in addition to our investment program in the U.S., we expect sustainability investment to stabilize between 2% and 3% of sales. Any additional and significant growth project will be communicated as they are approved by the Board of Directors, as was the case when we announced our significant investments last October. Reflecting the Summer Garden acquisition, Lassonde's net debt totaled CAD 449 million at the end of fiscal year 2024, as compared to CAD 191 million a year earlier.
At the same time, the adjusted net debt to EBITDA was 1.6 times at the end of 2024, as compared to 0.9 times a year earlier. As shown in the chart to the left, the ratio declined from 1.9 times at the time of closing the transaction to 1.6 at the year-end, driven by strong cash flow generation. For comparison, the graph on the right side shows that our debt level remains healthy. Looking ahead, given our investment program in the U.S., we expect the ratio to fluctuate between 2 times and 2.5 times to the end of FY 2026, which is still well below our objective of maintaining it below 3.25 times. Let's take a look at the results for the first quarter of 2025.
Sales reached CAD 700 million, up 23% from 2024 sales. Excluding the contribution of CAD 55 million from Summer Garden and the favorable currency variation, sales then increased by 9.3%. This increase reflects an increase in volume in the U.S. as well as price adjustments in Canada. I would also like to highlight the strong performance of our Canadian operations which benefited from the buy Canadian movement across the country. This allowed us to gain market shares in most product lines, while volumes in Canadian industry were contracting. Gross margin was CAD 183 million or 26.2% of sales, similar to last year. Margins from the Summer Garden businesses were offset by higher input costs, primarily oranges and to a lesser extent, pineapple and apple concentrate.
Net income due to shareholders was CAD 25 million or CAD 3.60 per share, compared with CAD 24 million or CAD 3.49 per share a year earlier. Excluding items affecting comparability, adjusted net income per share totaled CAD 4.00 compared to CAD 3.68 last year. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attention. I turn the floor back over to Vince for our perspectives.
Cautious optimism given geopolitical and economic uncertainty. These uncertainties require us to remain vigilant and adaptable as we navigate the months ahead. With this said, our focus remains in achieving our ambition to achieve CAD 3 billion in sales by 2026, while becoming a stronger, more diversified, and leading player in the North America food and beverage markets. To achieve this, our priorities are guided by our three strategic pillars of building a growth-oriented portfolio, driving sustainable performance, and building our capacity to act. For 2025, our priorities are: in US beverages, maintain the focus on building back our private label volume, ramping up the North Carolina single-serve line, and pursuing capacity expansion initiatives.
For Canadian beverages continue to fortify our leadership by supporting initiatives that foster growth through innovation to continue reducing our exposure to commodities, channel expansion with our new food service initiative, targeted marketing investments including our Canadian to the Core campaign, and through productivity improvements. In specialty foods is to continue Summer Garden's integration by leveraging our strengths and expertise across our network, capturing synergies and reinvesting to support long-term growth. We are also assessing a potential expansion of the Ohio facility, which would enable Lassonde to grow capacity, optimize conversion costs, and capture long-term growth opportunities. For 2025, we expect to achieve sales increase of approximately 10% excluding currency fluctuations.
This growth will reflect full year contribution from Summer Garden, the run rate effect of existing and planned selling price adjustments, sequential sales volume improvements related to the pace of our U.S. build back plan, and additional volume available from our new single serve line. In the current environment, there are two key factors that will require constant monitoring. First, commodity prices, namely orange and apple, have continued to fluctuate in early 2025 and are expected to remain volatile throughout the year. The ongoing fluctuations in the price and availability of key ingredients reinforce the importance of our innovation agenda, in part focused on reducing our exposure to commodities. Le deuxième facteur est la menace- [Foreign language]
The second factor is the threat of a North American trade conflict. Due to this uncertainty, transportation and warehousing costs have increased, while supply chain challenges may also affect us as the market adapts to new realities. We have prepared measures in order to maintain a strong competitive position as well as an optimal cost structure in the event of tariffs being implemented, although their timing, duration, and evolution may affect these measures. Furthermore, the initiatives launched last year in our production network are aligned with our long-standing strategy of producing close to customers. This should allow us to further reduce our operational risk. We will continue to closely monitor potential changes in consumer eating habits and potential reactions in demand for our product. In conclusion, we are pleased with our performance in 2024, and we expect this momentum to continue.
Thanks to a solid product portfolio and very strong teams, Lassonde is well positioned to sustain its growth in 2025 and beyond. On behalf of myself and my colleagues, I thank all employees for their hard work and dedication.
Dedication.
Je remercie également. I also thank our business partners, our customers, and our suppliers for their continued support. We are also grateful to the members of the board of directors for their wise advice. Finally, I would like to thank you in particular, our shareholders, for your continued trust. This concludes our presentation. We are now ready to answer your questions. Thank you. I am told that there is no question. Since we don't have any questions, I do declare the meeting adjourned. I invite. Well, thank you, Mr.- Mrs. Lassonde. I propose that the assembly is postponed. It's closed. Thank you, Mr. Dog. I thank you for attending this session today. The meeting is now closed.