Hello, and welcome to the annual meeting of shareholders in Rogers Sugar Inc. Please note that today's meeting is being recorded. If you participate in today's meeting and disclose personal information, you will be deemed to consent to the recording, transfer, and use of same. If you disclose personal information of another person in today's meeting, you will be deemed to represent and warrant to Computershare and the corporation that you first obtained all required consents for the disclosure, recording, transfer, and use of such personal information for all appropriate persons before your disclosure. During the meeting, we'll have a question and answer session. You can submit questions or comments at any time by clicking on the message icon. It is now my pleasure to turn today's meeting over to the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Mr. Dallas Ross. Mr. Ross, the floor is yours.
Thank you very much. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Dallas Ross, Chair of the Board, and it is my pleasure to welcome you to the annual meeting of the shareholders of Rogers Sugar Inc. As we have done for the last two years, we are holding our annual shareholders meeting in a virtual format. We believe this prudent practice continues to support the health and well-being of our communities, shareholders, employees, and other stakeholders. Our main objective is to ensure that all shareholders have the same opportunity to participate in the meeting and vote regardless of their geographic location.
At this time, I would like to thank our employees, the management team, and fellow board members for all the efforts deployed over the past few years to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on our business by focusing on protecting the health and safety of the public and our employees. The meeting will be conducted in three parts. First will be the formal business of the meeting, following which our President and CEO will deliver his remarks. After such remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. Before we begin with the formal business portion of the meeting, I will provide some comments on voting and questions at today's meeting. As a reminder, only registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders can vote or ask questions. Voting can only be done through our virtual voting platform.
If you are a registered shareholder or proxy holder and wish to vote, click the voting icon at the top of the webcast page. Voting can be completed at any time from now until the end of the formal business of the meeting. If you have already voted in advance of the meeting and do not wish to change your vote, you do not need to vote again during the meeting. For those who have not yet voted, we encourage you to vote now. Questions can also only be submitted through our voting platform. If you are a registered shareholder or proxy holder and wish to ask a question, click the question icon at the top of the voting platform page, type in your question in the text box at the bottom of the messaging screen, and then click the Send button.
If your question relates to a specific motion, please start your question by identifying the motion so we can address your question at the appropriate time of the meeting. We will save all questions that do not identify which motion they relate to for the general question and answer session at the end of the meeting. We will receive the questions and read them out in order for everyone to be aware of the question being addressed. If we have a number of questions that are the same or very similar, we will consolidate such questions so as to avoid duplication. We will endeavor to address all general questions. However, please note that due to time constraints, we may not be able to do so. If you have questions, we encourage you to submit them now. Questions can be submitted throughout the meeting.
Finally, we would like to remind you that our answers to your questions and our CEO's remarks may contain forward-looking information. By its nature, this information contains forecast assumptions and expectations about future outcomes, which are subject to the risks and uncertainties discussed more fully in our public disclosure filings. I will now call the meeting to order. Pursuant to the company's bylaws, I will act as chair of this meeting. Jean-Sébastien Couillard will act as secretary and representatives of Computershare, our transfer agent, will act as scrutineers. To ensure that the meeting covers all the business for which it was convened within a reasonable period of time, we have prearranged with a number of persons attending this afternoon to move and second various resolutions. This procedure is not an attempt to discourage participation, but just merely a way to expedite proceedings.
Notice of this meeting and related materials were mailed to shareholders and to all board members and the auditors in compliance with applicable securities and corporate requirements, as well as posted on SEDAR. The secretary will append the declaration to the minutes of this meeting. The scrutineer's report shows that a quorum is present. Notice having been mailed in accordance with the company's bylaws and a quorum being present, I declare that this meeting is now duly constituted for the transaction of business. The first item of business is the election of directors. Six directors will be elected at this meeting, and the company has proposed six nominees. Each proposed nominee's biography is included in the notice of this meeting. Therefore, I will now entertain a motion nominating such individuals for election as directors of the company.
Mr. Heskin moves that the following individuals be elected as members of the board of directors. Dallas Ross, Dean Bergmame, Gary Collins, Daniel Lafrance, Shelley Potts, Stephanie Wilkes. The motion is seconded by Jean-François Khalil. Are there any other shareholders wishing to make nominations for election as directors?
No, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you. Having no other nominations, I declare the nominations closed. Can the secretary please advise if any questions specific to this motion came in?
No questions specific to this motion were submitted.
Thank you. We will now proceed with the vote. Please record your vote now, remembering that if you've already voted in advance and do not wish to change your vote, no further action is required. Next item is the election of two directors of Lantic, which the company is entitled to nominate as holder of all of the common shares of Lantic. The company has proposed two nominees. Each proposed nominee's biography is included in the notice of this meeting. Therefore, I will now entertain a motion nominating such individuals for appointment as the company's nominees to the board of Lantic. Michael Heskin moves that the following individuals be appointed as nominees to the board of directors of Lantic, Dallas Ross and Daniel Lafrance. The motion is seconded by Jean-François Khalil.
Are there any other shareholders wishing to make nominations for appointment as company nominees to the board of Lantic?
None, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I declare the nominations closed. Can the secretary please advise if there are any questions specific to this motion that came in?
No questions specific to the motion were submitted.
Thank you. We'll now proceed with the vote. Please record your vote now, remembering that if you've already voted in advance and do not wish to change your vote, no further action is required. The next item of business is to receive the financial statements and the auditor's report for the financial year ended October 1, 2022. A copy of the 2022 annual report, which contains the audited consolidated financial statements and the auditor's report, has been mailed with the notice of this meeting and 2022 circular, as well as being posted on SEDAR. As no vote is required to be conducted in respect to the financial statements, we will respond to any related question during the question and answer session. May I now have a motion to appoint the auditors? Michael A. Heskin moves that KPMG LLP be appointed auditors for Rogers Sugar Inc.
To hold office until the next annual meeting or until their successors are duly appointed, and that the board of directors of Rogers Sugar Inc. be authorized to fix the auditors' remuneration. It's seconded by Dean. Thank you. Seconding the motion. Can the secretary please advise if any questions specific to this motion were submitted?
No questions specific to the motion were submitted.
Thank you. We'll now proceed with the vote. Please record your vote now, remembering if you've already voted in advance and do not wish to change your vote, no further action is required. Next item of business is the adoption, if thought advisable, of the non-binding advisory Say-on-Pay resolution on the board's approach to executive compensation decisions as disclosed in the company's 2022 circular. As mentioned in the 2022 circular, this Say-on-Pay is meant to facilitate accountability for compensation decisions by giving shareholders a formal platform to share their views through an annual non-binding advisory vote. I will now entertain a motion for the adoption of such resolution. Michael A. Heskin has moved that the following resolution be adopted.
Be it resolved on an advisory basis and not to diminish the role and responsibilities of the board, that the shareholders accept the approach to executive compensation disclosed in the corporation circular delivered in advance of the 2023 annual meeting of shareholders. Seconded by Stephanie Wilkes. Thank you. Can the secretary please advise if any questions specific to this motion were submitted?
No questions specific to the motion were submitted.
Thank you. We'll now proceed with the vote. Please record your vote now, remembering if you've already voted in advance and do not wish to change your vote, no further action is required. I would now like to ask our CEO, Mike Walton, to provide an overview of our company's business since the beginning of the last fiscal year. Mike?
Thank you, Dallas, and good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to our annual general meeting. Before we get started, I call your attention to the standard forward-looking statements closure as seen on the screen. Turning to the next page. We are very proud of our role as an essential link in the food supply chain. Every day, we strive to be a great company to partner with, work for, and invest in, offering a best-in-class portfolio of natural sweetener solutions. We've been at this for over 135 years. We remain focused on the power of our people, driving year-over-year growth in sugar, regaining momentum in our maple segment, leveraging our operational scale and know-how, reinvesting in the business, and of course, delivering returns to the shareholders.
We leverage our scale and vast network to supply the market as part of the many communities we participate in. We participate in communities from Vancouver to Desjardins. We are there for our customers. We are there for our communities. I am proud of these results. In 2022, we delivered record Adjusted EBITDA of CAD 102.1 million. We had record total revenues, which surpassed CAD 1 billion. We constantly met the demand of our customers, which continues to grow steadily. These financial results of 2022 allowed us to maintain the payment of our dividend of CAD 0.36 per share and to invest in our assets to maintain our infrastructure capabilities. The Canadian market continues to grow. We experienced compounded annual growth rate of 1.8% for the past 8 years.
The Canadian market has now surpassed 1.3 million tons. We announced our intention to proceed with an expansion of our Montreal refining capacity, along with an increase of our Toronto distribution center, logistics, and rail infrastructures. The proposed project will increase the Eastern sugar supply by up to 100,000 metric tons annually and secure supply for our valued customers for years to come. It's an exciting time to be in the Canadian sugar business. Over the past five years, our business has grown by over 75,000 metric tons. Lantic has a diversified customer base, as you can see here on this chart. We remain focused on supporting the domestic market. Adjusted EBITDA increased by CAD 15.5 million or 21% compared to last year, largely driven by higher volume, improved pricing, and sugar refining activities.
Adjusted operating margin per metric ton amounted to CAD 159 per metric ton, an increase of CAD 30 per metric ton from last year. I'm proud of our adjusted EBITDA performance. Our maple business, on a volume basis, is returning to pre-COVID levels. Adjusted gross margin and EBITDA decreased in fiscal 2022 compared to the last year due to lower sales volume and higher operating costs as a result of market-based inflationary pressures in the maple business. Market dynamics are challenging due to cost increases and strong competition in this segment. We continue to compete aggressively in this market and are laser-focused on costs. Again, strong performance from the sugar segment drives record 2022 full year adjusted EBITDA results. Our business has a stable base supporting its financial performance from year to year. We see a positive trend in our free cash flow.
We saw an increase of CAD 1.7 million in 2022 versus 2021. As I look ahead, this is what I see for this business. Financial performance expected to continue to deliver strong and stable financial results in 2023. Volume outlook continues to be strong for sugar. Underlying North American demand on the sugar segment remains strong. We intend to leverage our production capacity of our Vancouver and Montreal refineries to mitigate the potential reduction in production at our Taber plants. We expect the maple business segment to deliver slightly improved financial performance in 2023. We expect to generate enough cash from our operations to continue to invest in our plants and to maintain our dividend level for the foreseeable future.
Strategically, we remain focused on providing a safe and healthy working environment for our employees, manage effectively the strong demand across all customer segments, deliver strong financial results and value to our shareholders, progress in our journey through ESG excellence, and work on our planned expansion in Montreal. In conclusion, I'm very proud of the team that has delivered these results. I'm very excited for the future. Thank you to our shareholders for your continued support. Back to you, Dallas.
Thank you, Mike. A good report and reporting on a good year. There being no further matters to vote upon, we will proceed with announcing the results of the meeting. Mr. Secretary, do you have the preliminary results of the voting?
Yes, Mr. Chair. I received confirmation from the scrutineer that each of the motions passed, including the election of each of the nominees for directors.
Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I declare each of the resolutions considered at today's meeting as carried. The exact number of votes cast in respect of each matter will be filed on SEDAR and press released in due course. Are there any questions?
I don't have any questions at this moment.
Okay. We'll take 30 seconds to see if any questions come in before we wrap up. If you can just hold for a moment. Nothing. I don't think anything's coming in. You can confirm that, Mr. Secretary.
No question, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. As that concludes the formal business agenda of the meeting, I declare the meeting terminated. Thank you for your attention. Thank you.
This concludes the meeting. You may now disconnect.