Pilgrim’s Pride reported a year-over-year increase in net income during the first quarter of the 2024 fiscal year in each of the geographic regions it operates.
The quarter ended on March 31.
The company as a whole reported a net income of $174.9 million, a substantial turnaround from the $5.6 million reported in the first quarter of 2023.
It was the company’s U.S. operations that were responsible for most of that turnaround, with a net income of $102.6 million, compared to a net loss of $53.6 million from a year ago. However, increases were also reported in Europe and Mexico.
Pilgrim’s Mexican operations achieved a net income of $47.8 million during the most recent quarter, compared to a year-ago net income of $38.4 million.
In Europe, Pilgrim’s Pride’s operations achieved a net income of $24.5 million, improving from the $208 million for the first quarter of 2023.
“Although we experienced depressed market conditions and persistent consumer inflation throughout 2023, we saw this as opportunity to enhance our competitive advantage. To that end, we focused on consistent execution of our strategies, controlling what we can control, and maintaining investment in our operations. These efforts further strengthened our business, accelerating our profitable growth as market conditions evolved,” said Fabio Sandri, CEO of Pilgrim’s Pride.
The company reported that in the U.S., Pilgrim’s demonstrated its strength through increased partnership with key customers in both the case-ready, small-bird and big-bird categories. In Europe, the team was also able to secure additional business with retail key customers and identified further efficiencies in manufacturing and support activities. Its Mexican operations improved combination of enhanced supply and demand fundamentals in the commodity market, increased Key Customer partnerships, and further momentum of branded offerings.
