SAO PAULO (Reuters)-JBS (JBSS3), the world’s largest meat producer, reported on Tuesday profit of R $ 2.4 billion in the fourth quarter, versus only R $ 82.6 million a year earlier, with operational improvement in various divisions of the company that even allowed the reduction of its indebtedness.
In the full year of 2024, net results reached R $ 9.6 billion, recovering after losses of about R $ 1 billion from the previous period, when the company dealt with the global excess of birds and high production costs for grain prices, among other factors.
The profit before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) have added R $ 10.79 billion in the last three months of last year, up 111.4% in the annual comparison. In 2024, this indicator reached about R $ 39 billion, growth of 127.7% compared to 2023.
In an interview to discuss the results, JBS Global CEO, Gilberto Tomazoni, highlighted the performance of the company’s US beef business, which still faces a scarce and expensive cattle offer, pressing the margins where the company gets most of its revenue.
“The US beef business was very challenging, it was more challenging than in 2023 because of the reduction of supply. But even so the result was better than 2023, which shows that we could operationally improve a business that was below potential,” said Tomazoni.
The EBITDA of this division was 647.1 million reais in the last quarter of 2024, above 488.5 million negatives in the same period of 2023. Margins were 1.7%, an improvement compared to -1.6% of the fourth quarter of 2023, showed the financial report.
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The CEO also cited Seara, who also had performance considered below potential, as having an “impressive recovery.”
“It was a great turnaround in the harvest,” he said, talking about the processed, chicken and pig processes in Brazil.
Seara has registered high two -digit margins in the last two quarters, with the adjusted EBITDA totaling R $ 2.627 billion in the last three months of 2024, an increase of 292% over the previous year.
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Pilgrim’s had the best year in its history, said Tomazoni, with adjusted EBITDA of R $ 3.8 billion.
JBS registered consolidated net revenue of R $ 116.7 billion in the fourth quarter, up 21% over the same quarter of the previous year, while in the year it earned R $ 417 billion, 15% growth in the same comparison.
With operational improvement and financial discipline, JBS said it had “strong free cash generation”.
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The cash flow of operational activities was R $ 10.6 billion in the fourth quarter and R $ 30.6 billion last year.
The company also said it has, considering US $ 3.4 billion available in rotating credit lines, total availability of R $ 56.4 billion, sufficient to honor all debts by 2032.
In the closing of 2024, net debt was $ 13.6 billion (R $ 84 billion) a reduction of approximately US $ 1.7 billion compared to the previous year.
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Thus, dollar leverage ended 1.89 time, versus 4.42 times at the end of 2023.
