The past year was a tough one for the agricultural community, but the Weyburn Inland Terminal came out on the positive end, showing a profit at the end of the year along with a healthy relationship developed with United Grain Growers, shareholders heard at the annual meeting on Thursday afternoon.

In spite of a year which saw many of their competitors lose money on share earnings, Weyburn Inland Terminal posted operating revenues similar to the 1998 level, said CEO Rob Davies, with total revenues of $11.34 million, providing net earnings of $3.18 million. This compares to 1998 levels of $11.26 million in operating revenues, and net earnings of $3.43 million.

The net after-tax earnings for WIT totalled $1.7 million, down slightly from $1.9 million in 1998.

This assessment of WIT's ability to handle the year was reiterated by president Claude Carles in his report.

"We recognize there have been several negative events in the past year, but we weathered the storm and are well-positioned to continue as industry leaders," said Carles.

One positive development was the arrangement agreed to with UGG in August, he explained, in which WIT agreed to ship and handle UGG grain.

"Both companies continue to operate independently, with no equity involved. The arrangement to date has been working well," said Carles. Both companies are working on marketing and transportation issues related to the movement of their grain.

In handling statistics, WIT shipped 3,791 grain cars in 1999, up from 3,664 the year before, while the number of metric tonnes handled went up to 379,000, an increase of 2.4 per cent from the year before.

Canadian Wheat Board shipments comprised 85 per cent of handlings, compared to 92 per cent the year before, with non-board grains such as canola seeing an increase in handling by WIT to seven per cent of shipments, up from just under two per cent the year before.

WIT did well enough to earn CWB's award as Western Canada's top performing supplier for sales of Canada Western Amber Durum wheat to the U.S., the third year in a row the terminal has won this honour.

Another change for the company this year was a move to daily trading of shares with Union Securities, which began in August. Since daily trading began, there have been 64,000 shares traded, with a plan in place to allow shareholders to increase their holdings of shares rather than being paid a dividend payout.

A share buy-back program was announced, but 77 per cent of shares were not offered by shareholders, "which showed most shareholders still have confidence in the company," said Carles.

The terminal's Lake Alma elevator handled 14,700 metric tonnes of grain, which was all trucked to Weyburn for processing, while WIT shut down its Gladmar facility in October.

The Vigro seed operation in Sedley had a reduced profitability in 1999, said Davies, and the company will be reviewing the operation in the coming year to turn this situation around.

In question-and-answer period, Bob Baker of Sedley told the board there have been rumours that WIT was looking to shut Vigro down.

Davies said their facility is an older one, and at this point the company isn't sure if it will run for another two or five years, but there are no plans right now to shut the operation down.

"I know it's an older plant, but it's very important for the community. There's a lot of acres in that country seeded to specialty crop that weren't before," said Baker.

"We appreciate what Sedley has been doing, but it's important to make sure it's as efficient as it can be," answered Davies.

Earlier, Ben Kuzmicz, who was voted out as treasurer a year ago, questioned why 1999 was WIT's fourth best year for revenues and handling but the fifth best year for expenses.

He further questioned why administration costs seem so high, and why WIT needs to have three vice-presidents.

CEO Davies admitted administrative costs have gone up significantly, and noted this was the first full year the company was carrying the pellet mill as a part of its operations.

In the election, the slate of 11 directors from last year was presented, along with two nominees from the floor, Willie Kosior and Bill Watson.

Watson said the election was tilted against himself and Kosior, as the company slate was previously presented and had already been voted on by the proxy voters, with those ballots to be combined with the shareholders attending in person on Thursday.

Carles defended have a slate of directors, noting this was the only way to allow people who weren't able to attend the annual meeting a chance to vote for some or all of the 11 directors. After the voting, the original slate of 11 directors were voted in again for 2000.

They include Steven Peterson, Trevor Dammann, Dale Slimmon, John van Staveren, Harvey McEwen, Al Richards, Jeff Gaab, Claude Carles, Ed Douglas, Ken Fortner and Al Brigden.