Seaboard Foods, which holds a 50 percent non-controlling interest in Butterball, reported a $16 million loss on its investment in the turkey company for the 2018 fiscal year. As a whole, Seaboard Foods reported a net loss of $17 million for the year.
The Butterball loss compares to a $4 million loss for 2017, and an income of $73 million for 2016. Seaboard’s fiscal years coincide with the calendar year. Seaboard Foods reported a company-wide net income of 247 million in 2017.
In its annual report published on the Seaboard Foods investor relations website, the company stated that the losses in 2018 were primarily the result of higher logistics and production costs, and lower volumes of turkey products sold in 2018. The losses were partially offset by Seaboard’s proportionate share of the 2017 closure of a plant in Montgomery, Illinois, which has since been acquired by Carl Buddig and Company. The closure of that plant resulted in charges primarily related to impaired fixed assets and accrued severance, the company added. Seaboard’s proportionate share of those charges was $18 million, all recorded in 2017.
In its annual report, Seaboard Foods stated that the company’s management could not predict market prices for turkey or for feed, and therefore, could not make projections on whether the Butterball segment would be profitable in 2019.
Butterball, according to WATT PoultryUSA’s 2018 Top Turkey Companies rankings, is the largest turkey company in the United States. In 2017, the company slaughtered 1.355 billion pounds of live turkeys, a 1.81 percent decrease from 2016. Its closest competitor, Jennie-O Turkey Store, slaughtered 1.215 billion pounds in 2017, an annual production decrease of 4.71 percent.
Butterball is headquartered in Garner, North Carolina. It operates four slaughter plants, seven processing plants and five cooking facilities located in North Carolina, Arkansas, Missouri and Illinois.
Primarily known as a pork production company, Seaboard Foods, in addition to having a presence in the turkey industry, also operates segments in commodity trading and milling, marine, sugar and alcohol, and power. The company announced its 2018 financial results on February 20.
