Stock Profile: Dominion Citrus Ltd. Symbol: DMN (TSE)

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Stats as of 8/31/01

• H/L Ratio: 3.44 • RS: 98.3 (based on growth since IPO) • Shares: 16,200,000 • P/E: 13.64 • Price: $1.50

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Dominion Citrus is one of Ontario's largest wholesale distributors of fresh fruit and vegetables serving groceries and restaurants throughout the province as well as in Quebec. Founded over 65 years ago, the company only went public in March 2001 after it was spun off as a separate entity by its former owner, Algonquin Mercantile.

It operates five divisions:

• Dominion Citrus - an importer and wholesaler of fresh produce and fruit.
• Dominion Farm Produce - which packages and distributes locally grown produce
• Country Fresh Packaging - which specializes in grading, bagging and repackaging produce items for retail customers.
• Meschino Banana - an importer and distributor of bananas.
• Apple Valley - a producer of juices and ciders under such brand names as Tropicana™, President's Choice™, Master's Choice™ and Jumpin Juice™.

The company has responded to consolidation in the grocery business by expanding its range of value-added products, improving productivity and looking to offshore imports instead of relying on domestic and US grown produce. In the value-added area, its Country Fresh Packaging division secured a contract in 2000 to repackage fresh citrus products under the Sunkist label. The company has also upgraded equipment and technology at Apple Valley Juice to broaden its product line and improve competitiveness. Equipment was also installed to convert waste by-products into industrial baking supplies as well as animal feed.

A new corporate logo and its new slogan "Farm Fresh and Growing Over 65 Years" is adding to the company's profile as it moves forward.

Companies that are spun off by former parent companies often become "astoundingly lucrative investments" according to Peter Lynch in One Up on Wall Street. The reason is that parent companies do not want to be embarrassed by their offspring, so they'll only spin off winners if they can help it. With a strong balance sheet and management now free to take creative measures to improve the business, the results are often impressive. That is certainly the case with Dominion Citrus which showed earnings growth of 125% in its second quarter. The share price has more than doubled since going public and there could well be more upside. EPS are still a modest nickel a share for the quarter leaving ample upside potential.

Quarterly Earnings per Share

Annual Earnings per Share