SÃO PAULO, Brazil – JBS SA reported its third quarter net income at 356.7 million reais ($85.7 million), a loss of 133.5 million reais ($31.9 million) from 2018. Revenue for the quarter was 52.2 billion reais, up 5.6 percent from Q3 2018. The company credited its Seara processing and beef divisions for its strong sales in the Brazilian market. Seara’s net revenue increased by 7.4 percent to 5,362 million reais.

JBS leadership referenced the acquisitions during the quarter that strengthened its position.

“We resumed our inorganic growth and made acquisitions in geographies where we are present and which will contribute to the expansion of our value-added and branded product portfolio,” Gilberto Tomazoni, Global CEO of JBS, said in a statement. “We announced acquisitions with total revenues of R$5.3 billion, including Tulip, the leading producer of pork and prepared foods with operations in the United Kingdom. In Brazil, we completed the acquisition of a pork unit in Seberi (RS) and Seara announced an agreement to acquire Marba, a traditional cold cuts and sausage company in the state of São Paulo, which is awaiting the decision by the local antitrust authorities.”

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) totaled 5.9 billion reais, a gain of 33.6 percent in the quarter. EBITDA margin also increases from the previous year from 8 percent to 11.3 percent.

Net debt declined to 45,503.7 million reais in the first quarter from 47,806.0 million reported in the first quarter of 2017. JBS said the company reduced its leverage in the first quarter to 3.24 times the company’s annual EBITDA, compared with 4.23 reported a year ago.

Gross profit for the entire company stood at 8,951 million compared to 7,626 in the third quarter of 2018.

For its American subsidiaries, JBS USA Beef (including Australia and Canada) posted US $5,625.4 million a 3.8 percent increase from Q3 2018 in net revenue.

Gross profit for the segment was US $665 million, compared with US $481.6 million reported in the year-ago quarter.

JBS USA Pork recorded an 8.4 percent increase in net revenue which totaled US$1,511.6 million in the third quarter of 2019, due to a growth in average sale prices and higher volume. Gross profit stood at US $122.2 million compared to US $135.3 million in 2018.

“The US industry exports volumes increased 16.8 percent in relation to 3Q18, highlighting the significant evolution in the Chinese demand for pork, despite the high tariffs imposed by the Chinese government on the pork imports from the US,” the company explained. “In order to maximize export market opportunities, JBS USA has announced the intention to eliminate the use of ractopamine from its supply chain as of January of 2020.”

For Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. (PPC), net sales for the first quarter were $2.78 billion, up 3 percent from last year’s number of $2.70 billion. Gross profits for Pilgrim’s were very strong going from $169.7 million in the 2018 quarter to US $ 282.2 million in 2019.

JBS also mentioned that reduction in leverage for the US dollar was 2.39x, the lowest level ever reached for the company.