SAO PAULO, March 25 (Reuters) – Brazil’s JBS, the world’s largest meat company, on Wednesday reported a nearly flat fourth-quarter net profit as record revenue failed to offset tighter margins, especially in its U.S. beef business.
The Brazilian company posted a net profit of $415 million for the October-to-December period, up 0.5% from a year earlier but slightly below the $428 million analysts polled by LSEG had forecast.
Net revenue rose 15% to a record $23.06 billion, topping analyst expectations of $22.38 billion, driven by historic-high sales in both its North American and Brazilian beef operations.
However, it said tighter cattle availability in the United States has pushed up cattle prices and has squeezed margins in JBS’ North American beef division, its largest business by revenue.
Total adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell 7% to $1.72 billion, though the figure came in above the $1.56 billion analysts had projected. The adjusted EBITDA margin declined 1.8 percentage points to 7.4%.
(Reporting by Roberto Samora and Andre Romani in Sao Paulo; Editing by Kylie Madry)
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