SMITHFIELD, VA. – Smithfield Foods Inc. announced on Aug. 27 that it plans to carve out its European operations to accelerate growth opportunities.
The company confirmed that Smithfield Foods and Morliny Foods, previously known as Smithfield Europe, remains a subsidiary of WH Group Ltd.
“It’s the right time to establish our North American and European operations as stand-alone businesses empowered to execute distinct strategies addressing different market environments and opportunities,” said Shane Smith, president and chief executive officer of Smithfield Foods. “In doing so, we provide our respective management teams with increased decision-making agility, optimizing the performance and prospects for each business.”
According to Smithfield, Morliny Foods adopted a region-specific growth strategy to address a more fragmented European market with different market dynamics than in North America.
The business produces fresh pork and poultry and packaged meats across the continent from operations in Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, Spain and the UK.
“We will benefit by being a nimbler competitor with a focused strategy addressing the European food market,” said Luis Cerdan, chief executive officer of Morliny Foods. “We are confident this step will accelerate growth opportunities for our people and our company.”
During the last decade, Smithfield said it transformed its North American business by growing and expanding the profit contribution from its higher margin packaged meats segment. It also improved the cost structure and commodity market exports for its Fresh Pork and Hog Production segments.
The meat producer expects to continue to drive North American growth by building Packaged Meats share through product innovation, using its well-recognized brand that goes over different consumer price points, continually optimizing its operations and through investments enabled by stable cash flow and a strong balance sheet.
Smithfield noted that it has a majority stake in Altosano, previously known as Granjas Carroll de México, a joint venture in Mexico and one of the nation’s leading suppliers of fresh pork.
