Cascades Inc. reported a net loss of $3 million for the most recently concluded quarter. This compares with net earnings of $29 million for the same period in 2003.
Commenting on the quarterly results, Alain Lemaire, president and CEO said, "The last quarter has been quite encouraging as we have seen improved profitability with higher operating rates in our key sectors. The increased level of economic activity has allowed us to gradually implement price increases for certain products, which is encouraging for the future. We intend to remain focused on improving profitability by further reducing our cost structure, and thereby offset increasingly high energy, freight and fiber costs and the current level of the Canadian dollar. We also intend to continue developing new value-added products in order to satisfy our customer needs.”
Sales increased by 8 percent during the second quarter of 2004, amounting to $941 million compared with $873 million for the same period last year.
Operating income amounted to $28 million for the period, compared with $29 million a year earlier.