JBS, the world's largest meat processor, yesterday reported net income attributable to shareholders of the parent company of R$ 227.9 million or R$ 0.079 per share for the first quarter. This represents an increase of R96.3% compared with the value reported a year earlier of R$ 116.1 million or R$ 0.039 per share.
The results exceeded the expectations of analysts at Bradesco (R$ 30 million) and Bank of America, who had anticipated a net profit of R$ 30 million and R$ 142 million, respectively. However, they fell short of JP Morgan's projection of R$ 250 million.
Adjusted profit, which does not include the provision for taxes that JBS would pay if it sells the Bertin meat processing plant acquired in 2009, rose by R55.81 million to R1.4 million.
The company also posted an earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation (EBITDA) of R$879.4 million, up R26.31T3T from the first three months of last year, thanks to the strong performance of its livestock business in South America and poultry business in the United States. On the financial side, JBS suffered a loss of R$78.21 million, down R49.81T3T.
JBS revenues increased by 22.1%3Q compared to the first quarter of 2012, to R19.52%4Q. JBS's revenues in Mercosur grew the most, by 29.8%3Q, to R19.4%4Q. The unit's EBITDA also increased by 10.4%3Q, to R19.7%4Q, which accounted for almost two-thirds of all EBITDA generated by the company. Despite this, JBS's EBITDA margin in Mercosur decreased by two percentage points, to R11.3%3Q. The company said this was due to increased costs arising from the campaign to promote the Friboi brand in Brazil.
Livestock revenues in the United States, Australia and Canada increased by 5.81 TP3Q to US1 TP4Q 4.32 billion (approximately R1 TP4Q 8.6 billion). However, the subsidiary's EBITDA remained negative at US1 TP4Q 25.1 million, a modest improvement compared to the prior-year loss of US1 TP4Q 45.4 million. The EBITDA margin was also negative at -0.61 TP3Q, compared to a negative margin of -1.11 TP3Q in the first three months of 2012.
Another highlight of the period was the 7.81% increase in revenues from Pilgrim's Pride, JBS's US chicken division, to US$1.03 billion (approximately R$1.4 billion). In the same period, EBITDA increased by 13.21% to US$1.11 million, while the EBITDA margin increased from 5.51% to 5.81% of the total. The company attributed this performance to higher chicken meat prices in the US and Mexico, which offset higher grain costs.
On the other hand, US hog production revenues decreased by 1.61 TP3T to US$1 TP4T 842 billion (approximately R$1 TP4T 1.7 billion). EBITDA fell by 16.11 TP3T to US$1 TP4T 46.8 million, while the EBITDA margin fell one point to 5.61 TP3T.
The company closed the period with net debt of R$ 15.68 billion, an increase of R3.8% compared to the position recorded on December 31. Despite the increase in net debt, leverage (measured by the ratio of net debt to EBITDA) remained stable, at 3.4 times.
