There is work yet to do, but we have an excellent foundation to build from and a clear path forward. We are confident that a rewarding outcome lies ahead.

The food industry, and specifically protein and bakery, is stable and profitable. Fuelled by high levels of product innovation, it can deliver excellent, consistent growth. Maple Leaf is one of Canada’s largest food companies and owns three of the top national brands. We have leading market positions in most of our categories. And our brand, product and customer diversity provides a strong and balanced business portfolio. These are powerful levers to generate shareholder returns well above our historical levels, which we have a well-defined plan to achieve.

We also have a strong shared interest with investors. Our management team, together with McCain Capital Corporation, owns well over 30% of the outstanding shares so our financial futures are closely tied to value creation at Maple Leaf Foods. We are a team that expects to win, and there is a great deal of earnings horsepower in this company that we can and will deliver.

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS:
• Sales were $5.2 billion; consistent with last year
• Adjusted operating earnings increased 53% to $196 million*
• Adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations increased 98% to $0.57
• Operating cash flow from continuing operations decreased 54% to $89 million
• Capital expenditures of $163 million decreased 21% from last year
• Return on net assets was 5.9% compared to 3.4% in 2008
• Our debt to EBITDA ratio at year end was 2.9x compared to 3.4x at the end of 2008 and well within our internal target range of 2.5x to 3.5x
• Share price at year-end was $11.67, which underperformed the 2009 S&P Food index by 10%

* Adjusted operating earnings is a measure of performance that excludes one-time direct product recall, restructuring and
other related costs and other income (expense)

OUR BAKERY PRODUCTS GROUP – A GROWING GLOBAL BUSINESS
Maple Leaf operates in two different sectors of the food industry – meat and meals, and bakery. In the bakery industry, through more than 19 acquisitions in the past 15 years, we have established ourselves as Canada’s largest fresh bakery, the leading specialty bakery in the U.K., and one of the largest frozen bakery companies in the U.S. Overall, the Bakery business generates stable and healthy returns. Our trailing three-year EBITDA margins were 10% on average, consistent with premium North America bakery companies. We are very satisfied with our performance in this business.