CENTENNIAL, COLO. — Penford Corp. sustained a loss of $9,566,000 in the fiscal year ended Aug. 31. This compared with a loss of $5,117,000 in fiscal 2011. The fiscal 2012 results included a pre-tax charge of $6.6 million related to the early redemption of the company’s 15% Series A Preferred Stock and a non-cash tax valuation allowance of $1.8 million.
Fiscal 2012 net sales rose 15% to $361,363,000 from $315,441,000.
Operating income in the company’s Food Ingredients segment totaled $21,591,000, up 20% from $18,037,000 in the same period a year ago. Net sales in the segment were $102,544,000, up 25% from $82,240,000. Penford said sales benefitted from new products and customer gains.
Penford suffered a loss of $928,000 within the Industrial Ingredients segment, which compared with a loss of $4,718,000 in fiscal 2011. Net sales were $258,819,000, up 11% from $233,201,000. Penford attributed the sales gain to improved pricing, volume gains in paper and packaging starches and specialty bio-products, partially offset by lower ethanol pricing and volumes.