High Liner Foods' bad fortunes weren't exactly caused by the acquisition of US shrimp supplier Rubicon Resources, but the ill-fated deal is a snapshot in time of some hasty management decisions made in its quest for growth.

High Liner snatched headlines this week with the filing of a trade theft suit against two former Rubicon executives, alleging they conspired to steal a portion of the Canadian giant's shrimp business with Kroger.

But a lost Kroger account wasn't the reason for the poor performance.