knowledgeable

1
knowledgeable innovative preferred
September 2004
2
Disclaimer
Certain statements made in this presentation are
forward-looking and are subject to important
risks, uncertainties and assumptions concerning
future conditions that may ultimately prove to be
inaccurate and may differ materially from actual
future events or results. Actual results or
events may differ materially from those predicted.
3
Agenda

• Market Facts
• Vision
• Frozen Food Market
• Company Overview
• Core Competencies
• Growth Strategy
• Investment Proposition

All figures in this presentation are in Canadian
dollars unless otherwise stated.
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Market Facts
Listing Toronto Stock Exchange Symbol HLF Shares
Outstanding 10,960,827 Recent Price 10.55 Market
Capitalization 116 million 52-Week Price
Range 9.50 12.00 Current Yield (Common) 1.9
(0.05/share/quarter) Year End January 1, 2005
As of August 24, 2004.
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Mission
High Liner is building North Americas largest
and most innovative supplier of high
quality,value-added frozen seafood and
complementary products to the grocery and food
service markets.
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Frozen Food Market

• Steady Growth
• Ranked as 3 item Americans would least want to
  live without1
• One of the fastest growing food categories in
  N.A. supermarkets
• 2003 Retail Sales
• U.S. US28.0 billion2
• Canada 4.0 billion2
• Seafood is one of the highest growth categories
  within frozen foods
• 2003 Retail Sales
• U.S. US1.6 billion2 6.7 (vs. 2002)
• Canada 416 million2 13.0 (vs. 2002)

1Source American Frozen Food Association 2Source
A.C. Nielsen
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Frozen Food Market

• Growth Drivers
• Changing eating trends in North America
• Preference for value-added products
• Better taste
• Higher quality
• Greater nutrition
• Faster, more convenient preparation
• Complete meals
• Demographics
• Preference for premium frozen foods
• Preference for ethnic foods
• Increasingly positive attitude towards frozen
  fish

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Frozen Food Market

• Evolving Retail Food Sales Industry
• Industry-wide consolidation
• Opportunity for larger suppliers that can
  provide
• Full line of products in category
• Multiple categories
• Chain-wide support
• Seamless logistics (eg. ordering, invoicing,
  etc.)
• Vendor managed inventories
• Customers prefer
• Suppliers that are financially stable
• Suppliers that are not dependent on business with
  them

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Frozen Food Market
Competitive Landscape
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Company Overview

• Strategic Focus on Value-Added Frozen Foods
• Sold Nova Scotia-based fishing assets in May 2003
  for 65 million
• Transfer of ownership of Arnolds Cove fishing
  assets planned for September 2004
• Strong financial foundation to execute growth
  strategy and achieve mission

Customer-Driven Procure what you sell
Resource-Driven Sell what you catch
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Company Overview
Markets and Brands 2003 Packaged Food Sales by
Country

• Net income positively affected by strengthening
  Canadian dollar
• Seafood accounts for 92 of Packaged Foods sales
• Retail (including club stores) accounts for 75
  of Packaged Foods sales

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Company Overview
Markets and Brands
Note Market share measured by volume.
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Company Overview
Historical Financial Performance
( 000s except and per share data)
1 Excluding litigation costs. 2 Including
one-time gain on sale of fishing assets (2003)
and gains on closure of Lunenburg primary
processing operations and recovery from escrow
(2002). 3 Excluding future income tax and
litigation receivables. 4 Excluding non-operating
items (Closure or sale of divisions and
litigation costs). 5 Including non-operating
items on closure or sale of divisions, EPS for
2003 was 4.49 and 2002 was 0.91 6 Adjusted for
stock option expense.
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Company Overview
Historical Financial Performance Packaged Food
Sales
( 000s except )
1Based on difference in average exchange rate for
2002 vs. 2003 on U.S. dollar denominated sales.
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Company Overview
Recent Financial Results
( 000s except per share data)
1 Excluding litigation costs. 22003 numbers have
been restated to expense stock options. 3
Including one-time gain on sale of
Lunenburg-based fishing assets of 38.5 million,
or 3.90 per share.
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Company Overview
Recent Financial Results
( 000s )
17
Company Overview
Liquidity and Capital Resources
( 000s except data)
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Core Competencies

• Expertise in Worldwide Procurement
• Proprietary, state-of-the-art, Internet-based
  procurement, quality and inventory management
  systems
• Geographically diversified base of suppliers
• Lower raw materials costs
• Increased predictability of raw materials
  supplies
• Reduced risk
• Increased supply from aquaculture
• Decreased price volatility of most species
• Reduced cost of wild-caught species
• Outsourcing low value-add, labour-intensive
  processing
• China Inexpensive, high-quality processing
• Increased sales/employee

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Core Competencies

• Expertise in Frozen Food Logistics
• Industry-leading case fill rates and
  on-time/order fill precision
• Robust IT platform
• Facilitates transactions with any retailer
  (including the Wal-Mart Retail Link system)
• Ability to act as full category manager
• Canada (Seafood)
• Sobeys, AP, Price Chopper, Overwaitea,
  Federated Coop
• U.S. (Frozen pasta in New York)
• Shoprite, AP, Pathmark

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Core Competencies

• Track Record of Successful Product Innovation
• Responsive to demands of both customers and
  consumers

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Core Competencies

• Track Record of Successful Product Innovation
• Key is understanding what customers want
• 4-stage product development process
• Extensive market research
• In-house research and development

Gate 4 Pre-Launch Review
Gate 3 Project Review
Gate 2 Concept Evaluation
Gate 1 Idea Evaluation
New Product Idea Generation
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Core Competencies
Strong Customer Relationships















Includes private label business. Private label
business only.
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Growth Strategy
Capitalize on Changing Consumer Preferences
U.S. Frozen Seafood Market
Sales Growth by Segment 2003 vs. 2002
Sales by Segment1 2003
-10
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
1Excludes unprocessed shrimp 2Includes cakes and
other traditional battered and breaded products.
Source A.C. Nielsen
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Growth Strategy

• Focus on Value-Added Segments of Seafood Market

High Liner Canadian Retail
Seafood Sales Growth by Segment 2003 vs. 2002
Seafood Sales by Segment 2003
-5
0
5
10
15
20
25
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Growth Strategy
Focus on Value-Added Segments of Seafood Market
High Liner U.S. Retail Seafood
Sales Growth by Segment 2003 vs. 2002
Sales by Segment 2003
-20
0
20
40
60
80
-40
1Excludes scallops. 2Includes cakes and other
traditional battered and breaded products.
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Growth Strategy

• Focus on Value-Added Segments of Seafood Market
• Canada
• Successfully grew proportion of premium
  value-added products
• Currently market leader in premium value-added
  products
• U.S.
• Execute similar strategy to focus on growing
  market segments
• No major brands participating in premium
  value-added segments

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Growth Strategy

• Organic
• Branded Products
• Deliver innovative new products to the existing
  markets and customers
• Expand distribution of existing products to new
  customers and new markets
• Penetrate new channels
• Private Label Products
• Leverage private label opportunities (but not at
  the expense of branded product business)

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Growth Strategy

• Organic Success to Date (2003 vs. 2002)
• Canada
• Signature Products 10.7
• Seafood Department Products 47.5
• Flavoured Breaded Fillets 35.0
• Italian Village 56.0
• U.S. (in US)
• Club Stores 50.8
• Private Label 23.3

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Growth Strategy

• Acquisitions
• Must be strategic and accretive
• Must be complementary frozen food businesses that
  will leverage
• Leading brands
• Strong customer relationships
• Marketing and logistics expertise
• Product development skills
• Prefer companies that meet the following
  criteria
• Strong regional brands
• 1 or 2 in their respective markets
• Profitable, either before acquisition or based on
  synergies

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Investment Proposition

• Strong competitive position in a growing industry
• Strong brand equity Highly recognized,
  reputation for quality, value and convenience
• Track record of successful product innovation
• Strong reputational equity with customers and
  other stakeholders
• Defined growth strategy leveraging the Companys
  key strengths and focused on growing segments of
  the market
• Solid financial foundation to execute growth
  strategy
• Excellent corporate governance

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