Pilgrim's closing poultry plant it intends to sell

Pilgrim's will stopproduction at its poultry processing plant in Batesville, Ark., by mid-October.Workers were told of the closure on August 21.

Pilgrim's will stop production at its poultry processing plant in Batesville, Ark. by mid-October. Workers were told of the closure on August 21.

Pilgrim's had earlier announced its intent to sell the plant during an August 1 quarterly conference call with shareholders. Fabio Sandri, chief financial officer of Pilgrim's, said the company was negotiating the sale of the Batesville facility to a producer in a niche market where Pilgrim's does not compete, but did not directly identify the potential buyer. However, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that Rogers-based poultry company OMP Foods is in discussions to purchase the Batesville facility. Representatives from OMP Foods' subsidiary, Ozark Mountain Poultry, are expected to be in Batesville in upcoming days to distribute job applications.

The Batesville plant is the smallest one operated by Pilgrim's, accounting for 1 percent of the company's revenues. An estimated 470 people are employed at the Batesville plant.

Sandri earlier described the pending sale of the Batesville poultry plant as a "constructive step in aligning all of our facilities to our long-term growth strategy."  

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