CANADA. Lassonde Industries Inc. the North American leader in the development, manufacture and sale of a wide range of ready-to-drink fruit and vegetable juices and drinks brands such as Apple & Eve, Everfresh, Fairlee, Fruité, Graves, Oasis and Rougemont has announced a downtown in sales in its Q3 2017 results.

The Company’s sales totalled CAD369.5 million in the third quarter of 2017, down CAD7.7 million from CAD377.2 million in sales in the same quarter of 2016. Excluding a CAD9.1 million unfavourable foreign exchange impact, sales increased by CAD1.4 million (0.4%), largely due to an increase in sales of private label products and a favourable change in the sales mix of national brands, partly offset by a decrease in the sales volume of national brands

“The 0.4% increase in adjusted sales is slightly below our expectations as national brand sales were below projections. Nevertheless, we remain optimistic that, for 2017 as a whole, our consolidated sales will slightly exceed those of 2016 when adjusted for the foreign exchange impact,” said Pierre-Paul Lassonde, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Lassonde Industries Inc.

For the third quarter of 2017, the Company noted a decline in industry sales for the U.S. fruit juice and beverage market. Some U.S. regions were affected by a particularly difficult hurricane season, which had an impact on demand and the capacity to deliver products to those areas. In the Canadian market, industry sales volumes for the third quarter of 2017 were down year over year. The Company does not see any signs of this trend reversing in the last quarter of 2017.

Source: Lassonde