sustaining  financial strength (COnT’D) Right now we are focused on integrating the acquisition and de-levering, but we continue  to watch the marketplace for opportunities to  consolidate the industry and grow profitably. Q What are the terms of your new debt? Q Are you planning to do an equity issue in the near term?  Q Will you be able to continue  to meet your return on  equity (ROE) target of 14.0%?  Q Why did you fund the  acquisition of Icelandic USA  with debt instead of equity?  Q High Liner Foods has set  a limit on debt to EBITDA  of 3.0:1 in previous annual  reports.Today it’s 4.4:1.Tell me  about your plans to reduce that  to within your traditional comfort  zone and when will that happen?  A The transaction was paid in  cash, financed with new long- term debt and an increase in  an existing asset-based revolving loan  facility from US$120 million to US$180  million. The long-term debt is a US$250 million senior secured term  loan with a six-year term that pays  interest at 5.50% plus LIBOR (floor  of 1.5%). A portion of the proceeds  was used to repay all long-term debt  existing at the time. Upon closing, we  drew the full US$250 million senior  secured term loan and approximately  US$126 million of the revolving loan  facility, including pre-acquisition  borrowing, leaving additional borrowing  availability under the revolving loan  facility of approximately US$48 million  based on current margin calculations. A We’ve identified $16 million  to $18 million of synergies. We  expect to achieve about $12  million in synergies before the end of  2013. Cash earnings are immediately  accretive, so we’ll still be generating  cash from day one even with the  increased interest expense. Given the  synergies, cash flow, historical EBITDA  of both companies and the additional  EBITDA from the new cold storage  operation in Newport News, we’re  confidant that we can reduce leverage  to below three times EBITDA within  a reasonable period of time. In fact,  including near term synergies of $12 million and average debt rather  than seasonality high debt the ratio  would be 3.7:1 at year end. A At this time, the company does  not have any plans to do an  equity issue. However, if an  attractive acquisition opportunity was  to come to our attention before we have  returned to a reasonable leverage level,  we may look at an equity issue.  A The stock market was  depressed, our stock was  undervalued. On the other  hand the debt markets were open to  us at reasonable interest rates. Just  as important, our experience in the  industry and with the FPI and Viking  integrations gave us confidence that we  would be able to achieve the synergies  and generate the cash flows that would  allow us to return reasonably quickly to  a more conservative balance sheet. A Subject to purchase price  accounting adjustments with  respect to the amortization  of intangibles, the acquisition is  immediately accretive to earnings per  share before one-time costs. We expect  to meet or exceed our ROE target,  excluding those costs, in 2012.  12 HIGH lIneR FooDS InCoRpoRAteD