For the second consecutive quarter, Seaboard Corporation reported profits on its investment in turkey company Butterball, also expressing that it expects to continue that trend of profitability for the remainder of the fiscal year.
Seaboard, which owns a 52.5% economic interest in Butterball, announced its financial results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2022, which ended on July 2.
The latest results showed net earnings of $21 million for Butterball during the quarter, as opposed to a net loss of $7 million during the second quarter of fiscal year 2021. Net sales for Butterball also rose to $417 million during the most recent quarter, compared to net sales of $371 million during the second quarter of 2021.
In a Form 10-Q published on the Seaboard Corporation investor relations webpage, Seaboard stated that those financial improvements were: “primarily the result of higher selling prices, partially offset by lower volumes of turkey products sold and higher feed, plant production and transportation costs. Also, the income for the first quarter of 2022 includes Seaboard’s portion of a gain on the sale of a business.”
The successful second quarter follows Butterball’s return to profitability during the first quarter. During that quarter, Seaboard reported net sales of $399 million for its investment in Butterball, which is up from the net sales of $341 million for the first quarter of 2021. Butterball achieved a net income of $30 million for the first quarter of 2022, versus a net loss of $11 million for the first quarter of the 2021 fiscal year.
While Seaboard stated on the Form 10-Q that the company’s management is unable to predict market prices for turkey products or the cost of feed for future financial reporting periods; it did reveal that “management anticipates this segment will be profitable for the remainder of 2022.”
