Holiday demand contributes to high egg sales

U~S - Egg producer Cal-Maine Foods Inc. said strong demand in the three weeks leading up to Thanksgiving helped revenue increase 52 percent over the same quarter a year ago and reduce its net loss.

The Jackson, Miss.-based company, which has a feed mill operation in Clarksville north of Nashville, posted a net loss of $685,000, or 3 cents a share, for the quarter ended Nov. 26, compared to net loss of $5.3 million, or 23 cents per share, a year earlier.

Net sales for the first six months of fiscal 2006 were $218 million, compared with net sales of $192.7 million for the year-ago period. The company reported a net loss of $8.8 million for the first half of fiscal 2006, compared with a net loss of $6.2 million for the 2005 period.

Cal-Maine Foods (NASDAQ.NM: CALM) Chairman and CEO Fred Adams Jr. said in a statement that egg demand, sales volume and prices started slow in the quarter but finished strong.

"Following Thanksgiving and continuing until Christmas, egg demand has been excellent, resulting in higher egg prices," he said. "Cold, snowy weather in much of the country added to strong seasonal holiday demand."

Source: Memphis Business Journal

29 December 2005