Goodman Fielder, the biggest food company in Australia and New Zealand, has returned to annual profit after two years of restructuring.
The shake-up has been aimed at streamlining its range of brands, exiting unprofitable businesses and paying down debt.
Net profit was $A102 million ($NZ116m) in the year ended June 30, from a loss of $A146.9 million a year earlier, the Sydney-based company said in a statement on Wednesday.
Sales fell 11 per cent to $A2.23 billion. Earnings from continuing and discontinued operations before items were $A200.2 million, down from $A233 million.
The maker of household brands including Vogel's bread, Meadow Fresh, Edmonds and Ernest Adams resumed dividends with a final payment of 3.00 Australian cents a share payable on November 1, having abandoned dividends during restructuring that saw it record impairments, restructuring costs and foreign exchange losses of $A267 million in 2012 and $A300 million against goodwill in its fresh baking division in 2011.
Net debt fell by 40 per cent to $A434.5 million in the latest year.
Goodman still faces tough markets and rising input costs, saying retail trading conditions, particularly in Australia and New Zealand "remains challenging with continuing pressure on product volumes and pricing".
It gave no specific guidance for 2014, while noting that it expects "further progress".
However, it was now financially stronger with a "much clearer focus on the core categories where there is capacity to leverage the company's leading brands", it said.
The shares last traded on the ASX at 77 Australian cents and have gained 58 per cent in the past 12 months.
Earnings in the latest period were hit by challenging retail markets and volume declines as the company led on price (in Australia) and also from a disappointing result from Fiji Poultry, it said.
The company's Project Renaissance project to cut annual costs by $A100 million by 2015 achieved annualised savings of $A65 million in the latest year.
Goodman's largest division by sales, baking, recorded a three per cent drop in sales to $A897.8 million and a nine per cent drop in normalised EBIT to $A49.5 million.
Grocery sales fell seven per cent to $A502.8 million and normalised EBIT dropped 12 per cent to $A63.4 million. Dairy sales fell four per cent to $395.3 million.
