GREELEY, Colo., July 26, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ: PPC), one of the world's largest poultry producers, reports its second quarter 2023 financial results.

Second Quarter Highlights

• Net Sales of $4.3 billion.
• GAAP Net Income of $60.9 million and GAAP EPS of $0.25. Adjusted Net Income of $105.3 million and Adjusted EPS of $0.44.
• Consolidated GAAP operating income margin of 2.3%.
• Adjusted EBITDA of $248.7 million, or a 5.8% margin, with adjusted EBITDA margins of 4.6% in the U.S., 5.2% in the U.K. & Europe, and 12.2% in Mexico.
• All regions improved financial performance relative to prior quarter given operational excellence efforts, our portfolio diversification, higher attribute programs and branded offerings, in partnership with our Key Customers.
• The diversification across bird sizes and our operational excellence efforts enabled margin growth in our U.S. Fresh business relative to prior quarter, despite continuing challenging market conditions in the commodity Big Bird business.
• Our U.S. Prepared Foods business momentum continued in branded fully cooked products as Just Bare^® and Pilgrim’s^® collectively grew over 56% year over year, with E-commerce remaining a driving force in their growth as sales increased 125% year over year.
• Our U.K. and Europe business continue its margin growth trajectory, given benefits from our ongoing manufacturing network optimization program, growth with Key Customers, and synergies from back office integration.
• Mexico improved as supply and demand fundamentals became increasingly balanced and challenges from live operations are reduced, while we continue to grow our value-added programs and brands.
• Our organic growth programs to support our Key Customers and our strategy of portfolio diversification remain on track.   Both our expansion project at our Athens, Georgia facility and our new protein conversion plant in South Georgia remain on track to be fully operational by the beginning of 2024.
• Our leadership journey in Sustainability continued as we completed an inventory of our GHG emissions footprint for our global supply chain and implemented a variety of programs and systems to reduce our energy usage which will be highlighted in our 2022 Sustainability Report to be published in the third quarter.
  
  

“Throughout the past 12 months, our consistent execution and focus on portfolio diversification, growth with Key Customers, and operational excellence has been instrumental in our ability to navigate extremely volatile market conditions.   Our business profitability increased quarter over quarter yet again despite challenges in overall protein availability and lingering inflation,” said Fabio Sandri, Chief Executive Officer.

In the U.S., margins significantly improved from the first quarter despite continuing challenges in the market conditions of the commodity Big Bird segment, given an intense focus on our operational excellence efforts.   Case Ready and Small Bird maintained steady performance while cultivating promotional activity and growth with Key Customers. Prepared Foods continues its branded momentum as Just Bare^® and Pilgrim’s^® sales collectively grew over 56% from last year.

“Q2 was still challenging for the commodity segment. Although market conditions have recently improved, the team is in the process of executing a variety of action items to further drive operational excellence.   We maintain our commitment to profitable growth through our continued investment in automation, expansion at our Athens, Georgia facility, and construction of a new protein conversion plant in South Georgia,” remarked Fabio Sandri.

As for the U.K. and Europe business, momentum continued as profitability grew for the fifth straight quarter given benefits from recent network optimization, continued cost recovery efforts, and growth with Key Customers through innovation and strong service levels.

“Throughout the past year, the team has been exceptionally diligent in driving cost efficiencies throughout our manufacturing network, recovery of inflationary impacts, and synergies from back office integration.   We are pleased with the remarkable progress over the past year, we will continue to explore opportunities to profitably grow our business,” said Fabio Sandri.

Mexico results improved relative to both first quarter and prior year as supply and demand fundamentals became progressively balanced, overall live performance improved, and interest in our branded offerings increased.  

“Throughout the past several quarters, Mexico maintained strong service levels to Key Customers and grew its branded presence despite challenges in live operations.   We commend the team for their rapid response and operational excellence efforts to alleviate these issues.   Our continued investments in this region will further lessen future potential concerns and provide the foundation for additional profitable growth,” remarked Fabio Sandri.

Pilgrim’s continues to make progress in Sustainability as it recently completed an inventory of its GHG emissions footprint.   These efforts have been further amplified by energy audits, installation of metering systems, and training at its US locations.     

“The completion of our GHG inventory strengthens the foundation to reduce our emissions footprint throughout our supply chain. Equally important, we have implemented a variety of tools and management processes to evaluate our progress and identify additional opportunities in our production facilities,” said Fabio Sandri.  

Conference Call Information

A conference call to discuss Pilgrim’s quarterly results will be held tomorrow, July 27, at 7:00 a.m. MT (9 a.m. ET). Participants are encouraged to pre-register for the conference call using the link below. Callers who pre-register will be given a unique PIN to gain immediate access to the call and bypass the live operator. Participants may pre-register at any time, including up to and after the call start time.

To pre-register, go to: https://services.choruscall.com/links/ppc230727.html

You may also reach the pre-registration link by logging in through the investor section of our website at https://ir.pilgrims.com in the “Events & Presentations” section.

For those who would like to join the call but have not pre-registered, access is available by dialing +1 (844) 883-3889 within the US, or +1 (412) 317-9245 internationally, and requesting the “Pilgrim’s Pride Conference.”

Replays of the conference call will be available on Pilgrim’s website approximately two hours after the call concludes and can be accessed through the “Investor” section of www.pilgrims.com.

About Pilgrim’s Pride

Pilgrim’s employs approximately 62,000 people and operates protein processing plants and prepared-foods facilities in 14 states, Puerto Rico, Mexico, the U.K, the Republic of Ireland and continental Europe. The Company’s primary distribution is through retailers and foodservice distributors. For more information, please visit www.pilgrims.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements contained in this press release that state the intentions, plans, hopes, beliefs, anticipations, expectations or predictions of the future of Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation and its management are considered forward-looking statements. Without limiting the foregoing, words such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “projects,” “should,” “targets,” “will” and the negative thereof and similar words and expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. It is important to note that actual results could differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements include: the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, efforts to contain the pandemic and resulting economic downturn on our operations and financial condition, including the risk that our health and safety measures at Pilgrim’s Pride production facilities will not be effective, the risk that we may be unable to prevent the infection of our employees at these facilities, and the risk that we may need to temporarily close one or more of our production facilities; the risk that we may experience decreased production and sales due to the changing demand for food products; the risk that we may face a significant increase in delayed payments from our customers; and additional risks related to COVID-19 set forth in our most recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filed with the SEC; matters affecting the poultry industry generally; the ability to execute the Company’s business plan to achieve desired cost savings and profitability; future pricing for feed ingredients and the Company’s products; outbreaks of avian influenza or other diseases, either in Pilgrim’s Pride’s flocks or elsewhere, affecting its ability to conduct its operations and/or demand for its poultry products; contamination of Pilgrim’s Pride’s products, which has previously and can in the future lead to product liability claims and product recalls; exposure to risks related to product liability, product recalls, property damage and injuries to persons, for which insurance coverage is expensive, limited and potentially inadequate; management of cash resources; restrictions imposed by, and as a result of, Pilgrim’s Pride’s leverage; changes in laws or regulations affecting Pilgrim’s Pride’s operations or the application thereof; new immigration legislation or increased enforcement efforts in connection with existing immigration legislation that cause the costs of doing business to increase, cause Pilgrim’s Pride to change the way in which it does business, or otherwise disrupt its operations; competitive factors and pricing pressures or the loss of one or more of Pilgrim’s Pride’s largest customers; currency exchange rate fluctuations, trade barriers, exchange controls, expropriation and other risks associated with foreign operations; disruptions in international markets and distribution channels, including, but not limited to, the impacts of the Russia-Ukraine conflict; the risk of cyber-attacks, natural disasters, power losses, unauthorized access, telecommunication failures, and other problems on our information systems; and the impact of uncertainties of litigation and other legal matters described in our most recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, including the In re Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation, as well as other risks described under “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements in this release speak only as of the date hereof, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any such statement after the date of this release, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable law.

PILGRIM’S PRIDE CORPORATION

Non-GAAP Financial Measures Reconciliation

(Unaudited)

“EBITDA” is defined as the sum of net income plus interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. “Adjusted EBITDA” is calculated by adding to EBITDA certain items of expense and deducting from EBITDA certain items of income that we believe are not indicative of our ongoing operating performance consisting of: (1) foreign currency transaction losses, (2) costs related to litigation settlements, (3) restructuring activities losses, (4) transaction costs related to acquisitions, (5) property insurance recoveries for Mayfield, Kentucky tornado property damage losses, and (6) net income attributable to noncontrolling interests. EBITDA is presented because it is used by management and we believe it is frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties, in addition to and not in lieu of results prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. (“U.S. GAAP”), to compare the performance of companies. We believe investors would be interested in our Adjusted EBITDA because this is how our management analyzes EBITDA applicable to continuing operations. The Company also believes that Adjusted EBITDA, in combination with the Company’s financial results calculated in accordance with U.S. GAAP, provides investors with additional perspective regarding the impact of certain significant items on EBITDA and facilitates a more direct comparison of its performance with its competitors. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are not measurements of financial performance under U.S. GAAP. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA have limitations as analytical tools and should not be considered in isolation or as substitutes for an analysis of our results as reported under U.S. GAAP. In addition, other companies in our industry may calculate these measures differently limiting their usefulness as a comparative measure. Because of these limitations, EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered as an alternative to net income as indicators of our operating performance or any other measures of performance derived in accordance with U.S. GAAP. These limitations should be compensated for by relying primarily on our U.S. GAAP results and using EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA only on a supplemental basis.

The summary unaudited consolidated income statement data for the twelve months ended June 25, 2023 (the LTM Period) have been calculated by subtracting the applicable unaudited consolidated income statement data for the six months ended June 26, 2022 from the sum of (1) the applicable audited consolidated income statement data for the year ended December 25, 2022 and (2) the applicable unaudited consolidated income statement data for the six months ended June 25, 2023.

EBITDA margins have been calculated by taking the relevant unaudited EBITDA figures, then dividing by net sales for the applicable period. EBITDA margins are presented because they are used by management and we believe it is frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties, as a supplement to our results prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP, to compare the performance of companies.

Adjusted EBITDA by segment figures s are presented because they are used by management and we believe they are frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties, as a supplement to our results prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP, to compare the performance of companies.

Adjusted Operating Income is calculated by adding to Operating Income certain items of expense and deducting from Operating Income certain items of income. Management believes that presentation of Adjusted Operating Income provides useful supplemental information about our operating performance and enables comparison of our performance between periods because certain costs shown below are not indicative of our current operating performance. A reconciliation of GAAP operating income to adjusted operating income as follows:

Adjusted Operating Income Margin for each of our reportable segments is calculated by dividing Adjusted operating income by Net Sales. Management believes that presentation of Adjusted Operating Income Margin provides useful supplemental information about our operating performance and enables comparison of our performance between periods because certain costs shown below are not indicative of our current operating performance. A reconciliation of GAAP operating income margin for each of our reportable segments to adjusted operating income margin for each of our reportable segments is as follows:

Adjusted net income attributable to Pilgrim's Pride Corporation (“Pilgrim's”) is calculated by adding to Net income (loss) attributable to Pilgrim's certain items of expense and deducting from Net income (loss) attributable to Pilgrim's certain items of income, as shown below in the table. Adjusted net income attributable to Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation per common diluted share is presented because it is used by management, and we believe it is frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties, in addition to and not in lieu of results prepared in conformity with U.S. GAAP, to compare the performance of companies. Management also believe that this non-U.S. GAAP financial measure, in combination with our financial results calculated in accordance with U.S. GAAP, provides investors with additional perspective regarding the impact of such charges on net income attributable to Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation per common diluted share. Adjusted net income attributable to Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation per common diluted share is not a measurement of financial performance under U.S. GAAP, has limitations as an analytical tool and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for an analysis of our results as reported under U.S. GAAP. Management believes that presentation of adjusted net income attributable to Pilgrim’s provides useful supplemental information about our operating performance and enables comparison of our performance between periods because certain costs shown below are not indicative of our current operating performance. A reconciliation of net income (loss) attributable to Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation per common diluted share to adjusted net income attributable to Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation per common diluted share is as follows:

Adjusted EPS is calculated by dividing the adjusted net income attributable to Pilgrim's stockholders by the weighted average number of diluted shares. Management believes that Adjusted EPS provides useful supplemental information about our operating performance and enables comparison of our performance between periods because certain costs shown below are not indicative of our current operating performance. A reconciliation of U.S. GAAP to non-U.S. GAAP financial measures is as follows: