Bakery sale helps unlock Tim’s value

Article Excerpt

TIM HORTONS INC. $37 (Toronto symbol THI; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 176.2 million; Market cap: $6.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.7; Dividend yield: 1.4%; SI Rating: Average) is one of Canada’s largest fast-food restaurant chains, with 3,040 outlets that mainly serve coffee and donuts. The company also has 587 stores in the U.S. Tim Hortons recently agreed to sell its half of its Maidstone Bakeries business to Aryzta AG of Switzerland. (Tim Hortons and Aryzta own the bakery through a joint venture.) Based in Brantford, Ontario, Maidstone supplies baked goods to Tim Hortons’ stores in Canada and the U.S. Tim Hortons will receive $475 million when the sale closes later this year. As part of the deal, Maidstone will continue to supply Tim Hortons until 2016. The company has the option to extend this agreement for another year, if necessary. That gives it plenty of time to find new suppliers, or build its own bakery. The company could use the…