General Donlee third quarter profits flat at $1.4 million (General-Donlee)

TORONTO _ Third-quarter profits at precision-machined component maker General Donlee Income Fund (TSX:GDI.UN) remained flat year-over-year at $1.4 million, while sales rose 15 per cent to $13.4 million.

The Toronto-based fund reported earnings per unit of 23.7 cents, up 43.6 per cent from a year-earlier 16.5 cents, as its units outstanding dropped to 5.8 million from 8.5 million through a stock buyback program.

Cash distributions paid to unitholders declined to $1.5 million from $2.3 million, reflecting the reduced number of units. Distributions per unit remained unchanged at 27 cents.

``While General Donlee's sales results for the period reflected the effect of a weakened U.S. dollar, the Company's strategic price adjustments and continued operational improvements served to mitigate the impact of currency changes on gross profit,'' the company said in a release.

``We anticipate demand for our products to continue based on current conditions in the aerospace industry

General Donlee said a possible bid to buy the company from an unnamed party in July has been dropped and discussions have been discontinued. There were no other outstanding bids on the table, the company said.

Fund units were up eight cents at $6.50 in thin morning trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

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