“Our strategy of fostering our partnerships with Key Customers, operational excellence and growing our diversified portfolio of businesses, has demonstrated its resilience to a variety of market challenges over the last few years,” said Fabio Sandri, Chief Executive Officer.

“Despite improving market fundamentals during the quarter, business conditions remained difficult given elevated input costs, persistent inflation, and ample protein availability. Nonetheless, our team members’ relentless determination supported an improvement in margins relative to the prior quarter in all geographies,” said Fabio Sandri.

The U.S. business improved on the strength of both Small Birds and Prepared Foods. Case Ready continued to drive growth above industry averages with Key Customers, whereas Big Bird Debone made operational improvements throughout the quarter.

“Our U.S. commodity business continued to face exceptionally challenging circumstances, especially in January. Nevertheless, our diverse portfolio across bird sizes and branded offerings mitigated market impacts, whereas our intense focus on operational excellence enhanced our performance. Our commitment to profitable growth continues as our automation projects, plant expansion at Athens, Georgia, and construction of a new protein conversion plant in south Georgia all remain on track,” remarked Fabio Sandri.

Although the U.K. and Europe business also faced continued inflationary headwinds and seasonal changes in demand, investments in network optimization and key customer partnerships alleviated these impacts as adjusted EBITDA margins continue to improve.

“Our U.K. and Europe team worked diligently of over the past year to mitigate inflationary supply chain pressures. Their relentless focus on driving scale and cost synergies across our businesses enhanced our ability to work and grow with Key Customers”, said Fabio Sandri.

The Mexico business rebounded solidly throughout the quarter as live operations improved and market fundamentals stabilized. As a result, margins returned to historical levels.

“I’m proud of the Mexico team to quickly remediate pressing issues in live operations to meet Key Customer needs, drive operational excellence to alleviate the impact from demanding business conditions, and diversify our portfolio through innovation and branded growth,” remarked Fabio Sandri.

Pilgrim’s also continues to drive its Sustainability efforts as it recently unveiled a state-of-the-art poultry farm in the U.K. that can reduce emissions by nearly 100% from the redesign of housing along with the application of solar and heating technologies.

“Throughout the past year, we’ve had an intense focus on reducing energy intensity at our processing plants. I’m pleased that we’ve extended our efforts throughout our supply chain to create ways to further reduce our greenhouse gas emissions footprint, creating a better future for all team members,” said Fabio Sandri.