Pilgrim’s Pride Reports Operating Income of $189 Million with a Margin of 9.6% for the First Quarter of 2016

GREELEY, Colo., April 27, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) reports first quarter 2016 financial results.

First Quarter Highlights

• Net Sales of $1.96 billion.
• Net Income of $118.4 million, GAAP EPS of $0.46.
• EBIT margins of 10.5% in U.S. and 4.8% in Mexico operations, respectively.
• Adjusted EBITDA of $233.5 million (or an 11.9% margin).
• Free Cash Flow of $141.3 million.
• Conversion of a production facility to USDA-certified organic chicken, enhancing PPC leadership in emerging consumer trends and leveraging partnerships with key customers to support their growth.

(1) Reconciliations for non-GAAP measures are provided in subsequent sections within this release.

“Our U.S. and Mexican businesses improved sequentially in Q1 following a challenging Q4, putting us in a strong position for Q2. While market conditions contributed to the improvement, our well-balanced portfolio played a key factor in delivering the improved Q1 performance since we were able to leverage the strength in specific market segments while minimizing the impact of the others,” stated Bill Lovette, Chief Executive Officer of Pilgrim's.

“Leveraging our leadership in the ABF market and our partnership with Key customers, we are excited to announce that we have begun work on converting one of our facilities to produce USDA-certified organic chicken. We are committed to deploy valuable resources, when necessary, to accelerate our growth by offering creative solutions to fulfill emerging consumer demand preference trends for more natural products such as ABF and organic chicken. We continue to believe our portfolio strategy, combined with our approach of being a valued partner with key customers and pursuing operational excellence while strategically growing value-added exports, will allow us to deliver less volatility and higher earnings to our shareholders over time.”

“In Mexico, we continue to see improvements in market conditions year to date, and we are on target in integrating the new assets and realizing announced synergies. We will continue to seek new opportunities to position us to be a much stronger player in all geographies, meet future demand growth in the region, and give us the best portfolio to serve the Mexican consumers.”

“Within Prepared Foods, our vision of sustainable growth remains intact. With the well-regarded Pierce brand playing a central role and the addition of a new fully-cooked line at our Moorefield, WV complex scheduled for completion late this year, we are on track to expand margins and increase our footprint to new accounts where we did not have prior presence.”

Conference Call Information

A conference call to discuss Pilgrim’s quarterly results will be held tomorrow, April 28, 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: http://services.choruscall.com/links/ppc160428

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 (866) 777-2509 within the US, or +1 (412) 317-5413, 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 July 28, 2016.

About Pilgrim’s Pride

Pilgrim’s employs approximately 37,900 people and operates chicken processing plants and prepared-foods facilities in 12 states, Puerto Rico and Mexico.  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.

The summary unaudited consolidated income statement data for the twelve months ended March 27, 2016 (the LTM Period) have been calculated by subtracting the applicable unaudited consolidated income statement data for the three months ended March 29, 2015 from the sum of (1) the applicable audited consolidated income statement data for the year ended December 27, 2015 and (2) the applicable audited consolidated income statement data for the three months ended March 27, 2016.

EBITDA margins have been calculated using by taking the unaudited EBITDA figures and income statement components, 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:

Net debt is defined as total long term debt less current maturities, plus current maturities of long term debt and notes payable, minus cash, cash equivalents and investments in available-for-sale securities.  Net debt is presented because it is used by management, and we believe it is frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other parties, in addition to and not in lieu of debt as presented under GAAP, to compare the indebtedness of companies.  A reconciliation of net debt is as follows: