Release Details

GREELEY, Colo., May 10, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) reports first quarter 2018 financial results.

First Quarter Highlights

• Consolidated numbers reflect Moy Park for the entire quarter, including historical data in accordance to U.S. GAAP.
• Net Sales of $2.75 billion, +10.8% vs same quarter last year (+35.9% if excluding the Moy Park numbers from last year).
• Net Income of $119.4 million, or an increase of 27.1% vs a year ago.
• Operating Income margins of 6.9% in U.S., 14.6% in Mexico and 3.9% in Europe operations, respectively.
• Adjusted EBITDA of $271.8 million (or a 9.9% margin), or 18.9% higher than last year and Adjusted EPS of $0.53, or a 39.5% increase.
• Recent acquisitions and investments both in U.S. and international are already generating value and improving portfolio by adding more differentiated products while Key Customer approach has continued to produce growth and margin expansion beyond the underlying market conditions.
• Mexican operations exceeded expectations driven by normalization of the market’s logistics and infrastructure disruptions caused by natural events. Diversification into premium Pilgrim’s brand is gaining momentum and producing great results.
• Successful refinancing of the Moy Park Bonds, impacting the interest in the quarter but with strong support from market and favorable terms for future benefits.

(1) Reconciliations for non-GAAP measures are provided in subsequent sections within this release.
(2) Figures have been adjusted to include full-quarter of Moy Park, in accordance to U.S. GAAP.

“For Q1 our U.S. operations continued to deliver solid performance, especially within the small-bird and case-ready businesses. Our big bird deboning experienced a soft start as prices remained unseasonally low through the first half of the quarter but prices recovered quickly and returned closer to normal seasonality. Despite some headwinds in feed, labor and logistics, the investments we made over the past few years, together with the recent acquisitions and our capture of operational improvements, helped us to generate consistent results and continued to contribute to the evolution of our portfolio in supporting our vision to become the best and most respected company in our industry,” stated Bill Lovette, Chief Executive Officer of Pilgrim's.

“We had a very strong performance at our Mexican operations in Q1 as the prior logistics and infrastructure dislocations caused by natural events normalized and demand returned at strong levels. Our volumes increased during the quarter, driving a very strong EBITDA performance that was not only well above the level from a year ago but also above initial expectations. The strength has continued, which we see as the continuation of the trend of a strong, growing market for chicken. Our Prepared Foods are growing at a double digit rate and are generating great results under both premium Pilgrim’s and Del Dia to drive the evolution of our Mexican portfolio towards more differentiated, higher-value products, and ultimately margin expansion.”

“In Europe, we are already seeing positive results from the integration, with significant share gained at a key customer and several other projects to further optimize our relationships, highlighting how our newly acquired operations are already benefiting from our team’s enhanced focus on Key Customer strategy. The operational improvements initiatives are also going well and we are slightly ahead of our $50 million synergy target for the next two years. Based on the success of the previous integrations, we continue to believe we have the method and the team to continue to grow the profitability and potential of our European business.”

Conference Call Information

A conference call to discuss Pilgrim’s quarterly results will be held tomorrow, May 11, 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/ppc180511.html

You may also reach the pre-registration link by logging in through the investor section of our website at www.pilgrims.com and clicking on the link under “Upcoming Events.”

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.” Please note that to submit a question to management during the call, you must be logged in via telephone.

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. The webcast will be available for replay through August 11, 2018.

About Pilgrim’s Pride

Pilgrim’s employs approximately 51,400 people and operates chicken processing plants and prepared-foods facilities in 14 states, Puerto Rico, Mexico, the U.K, 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. 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: 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 channel, including anti-dumping proceedings and countervailing duty proceedings; and the impact of uncertainties of litigation as well as other risks described under “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

PILGRIM’S PRIDE CORPORATION

Selected Financial Information

(Unaudited)

“EBITDA” is defined as the sum of net income (loss) 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: (i) income (loss) attributable to non-controlling interests, (ii) restructuring charges, (iii) reorganization items, (iv) losses on early extinguishment of debt and (v) foreign currency transaction losses (gains). 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 US (“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.  The Company also believes that Adjusted EBITDA, in combination with the Company’s financial results calculated in accordance with 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 GAAP.  They should not be considered as an alternative to cash flow from operating activities or as a measure of liquidity or an alternative to net income as indicators of our operating performance or any other measures of performance derived in accordance with GAAP.

EBITDA margins have been calculated by taking the relevant unaudited EBITDA figures, then dividing by Net Revenue for the applicable period.

A reconciliation of net income (loss) attributable to Pilgrim's Pride Corporation per common diluted share to adjusted net income (loss) attributable to Pilgrim's Pride Corporation per common diluted share is as follows:

A reconciliation of GAAP earnings per share (EPS) to adjusted earnings per share (EPS) is as follows:

Source: Pilgrim's Pride Corporation