Sales for the quarter were $1,602,734,000, down 15% from $1,876,991,000 a year ago.
“Our financial results have improved dramatically over the past year as we work to create a market-driven company clearly focused on delivering the highest levels of service, selection and value to our customers as efficiently as possible," said Don Jackson, president and chief executive officer. “While we are pleased with the progress we have made, we recognize that there is much more work to be done in positioning Pilgrim’s Pride for sustained, profitable growth. We will continue to focus on opportunities for improving our product mix, expanding our customer base and operating more efficiently.”
On Dec. 28, Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. and six of its subsidiaries emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after a 13-month restructuring. Under the terms of the restructuring plan, the reorganized company issued 64% of its common stock to JBS USA Holdings, Inc., Greeley, Colo., in exchange for $800 million in cash.
The transaction made JBS USA the majority shareholder in the restructured company.
As part of the restructuring, Pilgrim’s Pride changed its fiscal year end from the Saturday nearest Sept. 30 of each year to the last Sunday in December each year. The change aligned the company's reporting cycle with the fiscal calendar of JBS USA and resulted in an approximate three-month transition period which began Sept. 27, 2009, and ended Dec. 27, 2009.
