GREELEY, Colo., Oct. 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ: PPC), one of the world's largest poultry producers, reports its third quarter 2022 financial results.

Third Quarter Highlights

• Net Sales of $4.47 billion, up 16.8% from prior year.
• Consolidated GAAP operating income margin of 7.6% with GAAP operating income margins of 11.9% in U.S., (3.2)% in Mexico and 1.2% in Europe.
• GAAP Net Income of $259.0 million and GAAP EPS of $1.08. Adjusted Net Income of $260.7 million or adjusted EPS of $1.09.
• Adjusted EBITDA of $460.5 million, or a 10.3% margin, 32.7% higher than a year ago.
• We are extremely proud of the agility of our teams in their relentless pursuit of operational excellence in the face of extensive inflationary headwinds.
• Our diversified U.S. portfolio across bird sizes and our Key Customers strategy proved a differentiating factor during changing market conditions. Strengthening in our Case Ready and Small Bird businesses, combined with Prepared Foods momentum mitigated significant volatility in Big Bird Debone.
• Our brand momentum continues throughout U.S. retail as Just Bare^® and Pilgrim’s^® prepared products grew over 45% year over year. E-commerce across our U.S. branded portfolio grew more than 65%.
• Despite a challenging consumer environment and extensive cost escalation, our U.K. and Europe business drove sequential quarter-over-quarter profit improvement through continued focus on Key Customer partnerships and operational efficiencies.
• Our Mexico business experienced a decline in overall sales and profitability given seasonality, weakened market conditions, and significant challenges in live operations at our locations.
• In building on our commitment to corporate responsibility, we issued our 2021 Sustainability Report in August which demonstrated our progress to becoming an industry champion in the ESG arena.
• Our liquidity position remains strong with an adjusted EBITDA net leverage ratio at 1.33; providing us the ability to further progress on our growth strategy, while we remain on-track with our previously announced organic growth projects.
  

(1) Reconciliations for non-U.S. GAAP measures are provided in subsequent sections within this release.
(2) This Y/Y change is designated not meaningful (or “NM”) due to significant one-time items recognized in prior year.

“During the third quarter, we experienced significant changes in market fundamentals. To navigate these challenges, our team members maintained their determination and focus on our operations.   As a result, third quarter sales grew almost 17% and Adjusted EBITDA nearly 33% from prior year,” said Fabio Sandri, Chief Executive Officer of Pilgrim’s.  

Throughout the quarter, commodity cutout values in the U.S. declined from five-year highs while inflationary pressures continued to mount.   Nonetheless, the U.S. business achieved an adjusted EBITDA margin over 14%.  

“Our strong performance in the U.S. highlights the strength and effectiveness of our strategy.   Our diversified portfolio offerings across multiple bird sizes helps mitigate volatility, whereas our Key Customer relationships cultivated profitable growth for all involved.   When these factors are combined with our relentless focus on operational excellence, we demonstrated our ability to drive strong performance throughout a challenging environment,” remarked Fabio Sandri.  

Despite continued inflationary headwinds and a challenging consumer environment, our U.K. and Europe business improved its adjusted EBITDA from the previous quarter and previous year.   In addition, the team announced additional steps to mitigate further headwinds via optimization of our network and increasing innovation.

“Although I am pleased with our improvement to date, I am even more impressed by the team’s ability to work together to further optimize our manufacturing footprint, to engage with Key Customers to mitigate continued cost escalation, and to develop strategies to minimize potential commodity challenges. These combined efforts will strengthen our foundation for profitable growth,” said Fabio Sandri.

Our Mexico business experienced a decline in sales and profitability relative to prior year and the prior quarter given seasonal changes in demand and continued issues with bird mortality due to disease. “The Mexico business has historically experienced significant quarter-over-quarter earnings volatility.   Nonetheless, we remain confident in the business and its long-term prospects,” commented Mr. Sandri.

Pilgrim’s also built additional momentum for its 2040 Net Zero Program with approved investments of nearly $40 million in plant level improvements that both enhanced overall operational efficiency and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.   In addition, Pilgrim’s published its 2021 Sustainability Report in August illustrating the downward trajectory of its greenhouse gas emissions intensity.  

“I am proud of our progress to date in sustainability and look forward to continuing our journey towards Net Zero, especially as it simultaneously strengthens our business and creates a better future for all of our team members and their communities.   I am very confident that these efforts, when combined with our team’s ability to consistently execute our strategy, will help drive our vision of becoming the best and most respected company in our industry, even under the most difficult circumstances,” remarked Fabio Sandri.

Conference Call Information

A conference call to discuss Pilgrim’s quarterly results will be held tomorrow, October 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/ppc221027.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 over 60,000 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) transaction costs related to business acquisitions, (3) costs related to the DOJ agreement and litigation settlements, (4) property insurance recoveries for Mayfield, Kentucky tornado property damage losses, (5) deconsolidation of subsidiary 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 September 25, 2022 (the LTM Period) have been calculated by subtracting the applicable unaudited consolidated income statement data for the nine months ended September 26, 2021 from the sum of (1) the applicable audited consolidated income statement data for the year ended December 26, 2021 and (2) the applicable unaudited consolidated income statement data for the nine months ended September 25, 2022.

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 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 the U.S. 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 the U.S. to adjusted operating income margin for the U.S. 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:

(a) Net tax expense (benefit) of adjustments represents the tax impact of all adjustments shown above.

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:

(a) Net tax impact of adjustments represents the tax impact of all adjustments shown above.