Maple Leaf Foods Lays Groundwork for Transformational Year Ahead; Curtis Frank Details

Maple Leaf Foods Inc., an iconic Canadian protein company, announced updates on its outlook for 2025, completion of the initial phase of restructuring initiatives to reduce costs and maximize the Company's potential, and advancement of the planned spin-out of Canada Packers, all contributing to momentum for a transformative year ahead.

"This year will be a significant year of strategic transformation and financial progress for Maple Leaf Foods," said Curtis Frank, President and Chief Executive Officer of Maple Leaf Foods. "Our growth strategies have proven to be resilient and successful even in the most challenging conditions, our capital projects are exiting 2024 contributing expected benefits, market conditions and consumer behavior are recovering as anticipated, and we recently completed the first phase of our Fuel for Growth cost competitiveness initiatives, all of which we expect will underpin a meaningful improvement in profitable growth and the ongoing de-leveraging of our balance sheet."

The Company's recently approved 2025 operating plan highlighted core elements of this transformational year, including:

• Revenue growth of mid-single digits driven by execution of the Company's proven growth strategies.
• Significant year-over-year Adjusted EBITDA improvements driven by the full benefits of capital investments, excellence in brand and revenue management, recent restructuring and supply chain cost saving initiatives and the return of normalized market conditions.
• Continued deleveraging of the balance sheet driven by strong free cash flow from operations.
• Completion of the spin-out of Canada Packers.
• Further optimizing performance through a refocused organizational structure.

"Maple Leaf Foods has demonstrated its ability to outperform our peers in both top and bottom-line performance," continued Mr. Frank. "We expect this trend to accelerate in 2025 as our long-term strategies and focus yield clear and measurable results."

Growth strategies of Maple Leaf Foods have delivered consistent performance over time which is expected to continue in 2025 and beyond. Central elements of these long-term strategies include:

• Capitalizing on the growing consumer demand for protein, our singular portfolio focus.
• Strategically increasing marketing and advertising investments behind our portfolio of leading protein brands with clear brand strategies, each designed to address a specific consumer demand space.
• Leveraging company leadership in sustainable meats.
• Accelerating the pace of consumer-focused innovation with a view to outpacing the over 50 new SKU's that were introduced in 2024.
• Expanding geographic reach in the US market by building on our existing protein platform and new organizational structure.
• Building on strategic relationships with customers through joint business planning

"With pork markets more or less normalized, the timing to complete the transaction this year is very positive," commented Mr. Frank. "We are pleased with the progress we have made on the business and operational plans to maximize readiness once we have secured all the necessary approvals, and we are excited for the value creation potential that this transaction holds for both companies and their stakeholders going forward."

For more information on the Company's Fuel for Growth initiative and other details, view the full press release here.