Canada Bread’s frozen arm saw sales drop 4.2% to C$123.8m (£77.1m), after lower volumes were sold in its UK business in the third quarter.

The Canadian firm said stronger volumes and selling prices in the North American frozen bakery operations were largely offset by lower volumes at Maple Leaf Bakery UK.

However year-to-date sales were up from C$369,804m (£230,325m) to C$371,543m (£231,408m) for its frozen business.

The firm said UK earnings were consistent with last year, “as improvements from cost reduction strategies, including the closure of a bakery in the first quarter, were offset by lower volumes and the costs of commissioning new croissant capacity”.

Adjusted operating earnings for the group increased 7.8% to C$34.2m (£21.3m), while net earnings fell from $30.3m (£18.9m) to C$24.2m (£15.1m), for the quarter ended 30 September 2012.

Richard Lan, president and chief executive officer, said: “Our earnings growth resulted from effective buying strategies and a strong positive shift in our North American frozen bakery business.

“We have a number of commercial and marketing initiatives under way to support growth in each of our businesses, and we expect to manage inflationary costs through responsible pricing.”