In our Meat Products Group, adjusted earnings from operations for the year increased by 21% to $90 million, mainly driven by improvements in the fresh pork and poultry businesses. Operating efficiencies in both these businesses combined with improved industry processor margins in pork more than offset the impact of the strengthening Canadian dollar in the year. While this was a positive trend, comparisons are off a low base of earnings in 2006, and protein results have yet to materially benefit from any of the strategic initiatives underway.

In our Agribusiness Group, adjusted earnings from operations for the year declined to a loss of $8 million compared to a loss of $3 million in 2006. Rising feed costs, lower hog prices, a strong Canadian dollar, and increased mortality as a result of an industry outbreak of porcine circovirus resulted in lower hog production margins. Losses in the farming operation were mitigated by the increased contribution of rendering and biodiesel operations, benefiting from strong commodity and oil prices.

Overall, the Company continued to generate strong cash flow, with $123 million in operating cash flow from continuing operations in 2007. We increased our capital expenditures by 52% to $237 million; this is a critical element of our plan to adjust our Canadian operations to the new currency reality. Through these investments we are increasing the efficiency and scale of our plants, reducing costs and improving our competitiveness. Capital projects must pass intense scrutiny and generate satisfactory returns for shareholders, and are an essential part of our transformation. In addition, we invested approximately $50 million on acquisitions in the bakery business to extend our product and geographic diversification, largely in the United Kingdom. We ended the year with a very strong balance sheet reflected in a Net Debt/EBITDA ratio of 2:2, benefiting from the sale of our animal nutrition business for $525 million, the proceeds of which were used to pay down near-term debt. We expect to redeploy this capital in the next few years with significant investments behind our new vision.