Good morning, and welcome to the Second Quarter 2021 Pilgrim's Pride Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. [Operator Instructions]. At the company's request, this call is being recorded.

Please note that the slides referenced during today's call are available for download from the company's investor website at ir.pilgrims.com in the Events and Presentations section. [Operator Instructions]. I would now like to turn the conference to Julie Kegley of Financial Profiles for Pilgrim's Pride. Thank you, and over to you..

Good morning, and thank you for joining us today as we review our operating and financial results for the second quarter ended June 27, 2021. Yesterday afternoon, we issued a press release providing an overview of our financial performance for the quarter, including a reconciliation of any non-GAAP measures we may discuss.

A copy of the release is available on our website at ir.pilgrims.com, along with slides for reference. These items also have been filed as Form 8-Ks and are available online at www.sec.gov. Presenting on today's call are Fabio Sandri, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Matt Galvanoni, Chief Financial Officer.

Before we begin our prepared remarks, I would like to remind everyone of our safe harbor disclaimer. Today's call may contain forward-looking statements that represent our outlook and current expectations as the day of this release.

Other additional factors not anticipated by an may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in these forward-looking statements. Further information concerning those factors has been provided in today's press release, our Form 10K and in our regular filings with the SEC. I'd now like to turn the call over to Fabio Sandri..

animal care, team members, environment, communities, customers and consumers and suppliers across our operations in the U.K., Europe, Mexico and the United States.

Pilgrim's have established ESG as core to our business strategy, adopting industry-leading initiatives that build on a company long-standing commitments to sustainable food production and differentiated social initiatives.

Pilgrim's is the first major global meat and poultry company to offer a sustainability-linked bond tied to efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions intensity across its global operations. In addition, we committed to achieve a net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, the most ambitious commitment of its kind in its sector.

We are committed to being the best and most respected company in our industry, and we want to serve as a leader that can help drive the entire supply chain forward.

We remain focused on producing high-quality foods for people around the world in a sustainable manner that is both ambitious and collaborative while creating the opportunity for a better future for our team members. With that, I would like to ask our CFO, Matt Galvanoni, to discuss our financial results..

Thank you, Fabio, and good morning, everyone. For the second quarter of 2021, net revenues were $3.64 billion versus $2.82 billion a year ago, with an adjusted EBITDA of $372 million and a 10.2% margin compared to $112 million and a 4% margin in Q2 last year.

We achieved $154 million adjusted net income, which includes the discrete income tax charge in the quarter of $32 million associated with the U.K.'s increased statutory income tax rate from 19% to 25%. We reported a GAAP net loss of $167 million versus a loss of $6 million in 2020.

The most significant adjustment in the quarter was a $396 million accrual related to legal sales. Adjusted EBITDA margins were 10.5% in the U.S. 18.9% in Mexico and 5.2% in Europe. Our adjusted EBITDA in the U.S. in Q2 was $237.1 million versus $93.7 million a year ago, and $236.4 million in 2019.

Sales were up due to strong market pricing and slightly higher volumes compared to both 2020 and 2019. Gross profit margins were higher than 2020 due to significant COVID-19 impacts last year, however, were down compared to 2019 due to higher grain costs and labor inefficiencies.

In Mexico, adjusted EBITDA in Q2 was $85.7 million versus a loss of $27.7 million a year ago and a positive $75.8 million in 2019. Net revenue was up due to higher market pricing and slightly higher volumes. The Mexican business has benefited from a balanced supply-demand dynamic.

From linked [indiscernible], adjusted EBITDA in Q2 was $33.5 million versus $34.7 million a year ago and $37.3 million in 2019. Pilgrim's U.K. had adjusted EBITDA of $15.7 million in Q2 compared to $12.3 million a year ago. Volumes have continued to improve during the year, the gradual reopening of the U.K. and European economies.

However, gross profit is down year-over-year as we've been able to pass through some but not all of the grain cost increases experienced in the first 6 months of the year. In total, we incurred COVID-related costs of approximately $12 million in the second quarter 2021. This is a decrease of approximately $37 million compared to the prior year.

Overall, our SG&A in the second quarter was higher than prior year, primarily due to legal costs associated with the various U.S. litigation matters and increased investment in our brands. We will continue to prioritize our capital spending plans this year to optimize our product mix and strengthen our partnership with key customers.

We reiterate our commitment to invest in strong ROCE projects that will improve our operational efficiencies and tailor our operations to address key customer needs to further solidify competitive advantages for Pilgrim's.

Our balance sheet continues to be robust given our relentless emphasis on cash flows from operating activities, focus on management of working capital and disciplined investment in high-return projects. Our liquidity position remains very strong, with more than $1.25 billion in total cash and available credit.

At the end of the quarter, our net debt was $1.8 billion with a leverage ratio of 1.6x last 12 months adjusted EBITDA. Our leverage is below our target ratio of 2 to 3x, and we continue to expect to generate strong operating cash flows this year.

We expect 2021 interest expense to be approximately $110 million, exclusive of the debt extinguishment costs of $24 million we recorded in the second quarter in any interest expense associated with the financing of the pending Kerry transaction.

We'll stay focused on creating shareholder value as we optimize our capital structure to continue executing our growth strategy. Our capital allocation strategies remain aligned with our growth strategy and each opportunity be evaluated against our value-creation standards. Operator, this concludes our prepared remarks.

Please open the call for questions..

[Operator Instructions]. First question is from the line of Ben Theurer from Barclays..

Yes. Perfect. Congrats on the results. First question, just could you elaborate a little more in detail on that close to $400 million for litigation settlements? Because if I look at it on an LTM basis, we're now close to like $600 million, of which a lot was like the price fixing last year.

But just to understand, if the incremental $400 million from the last quarter, is that already all settled in cash? Or is a lot of that like just in order to be prepared if there is more to come? And do you think this is it? That would be the first question..

Yes, we can't comment on active investigation and litigation. However, the company continues to cooperate with the Department of Justice on its investigation, and we'll continue to defend against the claims and to resolve its material litigation in a manner that we believe is the best interest of the company and the shareholders.

Based on that, that is a combination of actual settlements and accruals that we expect to happen..

Okay.

So it's not all with an actual settlement as there's partially -- as brawl?.

No..

Okay. That's good. And then second, just on the U.S., if we take a look at the underlying performance, I mean it's been clearly on an improving trend, and it seems like you'll start to get pricing through and maybe a little bit of an easing on the cost side. Still, you've highlighted labor shortage and certain other issues on the cost side.

How do you think about the current quarter and what's next -- once those benefits run out in terms of getting labor back in being more efficient on the facilities and ultimately further pushing those price increases through with your key customers.

So where do you think the profitability is heading in the second half just based on where the current environment is?.

Yes. Thank you. It's a long answer, Ben. But on the pricing and contracts, we have this differentiated portfolio. I've been talking about this for years, right? That protects us from the downside, and we have exposure to the commodity segments that enable us to capture upside in the market.

All of these different segments are behaving differently during the last year to be honest, right? So commodity is really strong right now, and we are seeing a strong demand in the foodservice that is growing really fast, while retail continues to be strong. So as of today, the commodity segments are way more profitable than all other segments.

The small bird segment has continued its strength with the growth of the QSRs. But the contracts that we have in those segments are more connected to grain pricing, and that profitability is very stable.

So we have a very stable part of our portfolio and a part of our portfolio that is really connected because commodity prices that we can achieve the results that we are achieving. Going forward, what we are seeing in the market is that retail will continue to be strong.

I think consumers are back to older habits of more trips to the grocer, which will help the -- also the daily section. So the retail continues to be very strong. And the foodservice is reopening. I think today, we are seeing that traffic is close to only 60 -- 6% percent lower than the pre-pandemic levels. So very good level affordability.

While the noncommercial part of the foodservices still 29% to 30% down. And we expect the schools to reopen very soon for the next year, which will boost the foodservice industry.

So going forward, we continue to expect or we expect to see retail continue to be strong and the commodity segments to be really demanded given the extra increase in the foodservice..

The next question is from the line of Ben Bienvenu from Stephens..

I want to ask first about the grain side of things and the feed cost. And then my second question is about Mexico. So on the feed side of things, I appreciate your commentary on the current. I noticed in your disclosures that you're not overly hedged from derivative coverage exposure, but you are as hedged as you've been in a few years.

And so I'm curious kind of your thoughts there around how you're positioned relative to the market? Any commentary you could provide on basis exposure as well? And what we should be considering relative to your positioning around all of that as we head into the back half of the year?.

Sure. Thank you, Ben. Well, like we said previously, our risk management strategy is adapted to the risk we see in the market, and we feel very comfortable with where we are positioned right now. What we are seeing is that we are following the summer crop developments in the U.S.

very close given the low stock situation we have for both corn and soybeans. So -- while there have been some areas that have been drier than we will like, particularly in the Western Corn Belt we think overall, the U.S. crop are in an okay condition now, but require additional monitoring, for sure. In addition to the condition in the U.S.

crops, and despite some volatility and recent cancellations, we are still seeing strong demand for corn and expect that to continue in the next years. And given all that, we're looking at an increase in feed cost of approximately $300 million in U.S. for the second semester, with the Q3 being impacted the most.

While we are seeing that impacting our cost around $0.08 per life pound. What we are seeing is that the commodity and even the normal pricing and the cutout has increased by significantly more than that, almost $0.30. So The commodity pricing has been able to offset these grain prices so far.

Our position, as we mentioned, are not the largest we ever had as we are monitoring all these costs, and we believe that we have the right position right now..

Okay. That's great. My second question on Mexico. Congratulations on the solid results. I'm curious just given that, that market can be incremental from quarter-to-quarter what you're seeing so far in the third quarter, you noted a stronger economic environment, more balanced S&D, better product mix on the non-commodity piece of your business.

Maybe just any color you could give as we look to the back half of the year on that business?.

Yes. Temperamental, it's a good time now. Thank you for that. We know that quarter-over-quarter, the performance can be very volatile. What we are seeing in Mexico is that we have a well-balanced supply and demand scenario right now, and we expect that to continue in Q3. Our fresh business continues to improve its efficiencies.

And while the Prepared Foods saw a very strong double-digit growth anchored in a very strong performance of the QSRs and service channels. The economy is recovering well. We are watching the COVID case pretty close right there, but we don't expect a major impact in the current positive recovery trend of the economy.

As relation always, our key members and our team continues to be focused on delivering these operational results and committed to growth and support the growth of the Mexican economy..

The next question is from the line of Michael Piken from Cleveland Research..

Just wanted to talk a little bit more about the hatchability issues within the industry.

When do you see that improving? And how are your -- how is your hatchability doing? And what steps are you taking to improve that?.

Yes. Thank you, Michael. Yes, hatchability has been the issue in the industry, and that is constraining the industry to exceed the growth that everybody is expecting, which is less than 1% for 2020.

The main reason for the hatchability issues is that when we try to solve the blotting breath issue, as you remember, 2 or 3 years ago, the genetic selection of this new breed prioritized quality, feed conversion and carcass utilization rather than these reproductivity trades.

So even with the larger flock that we are having right now, it is producing less eggs and less eggs are hatching. Some of that can also be explained by management. And we expect that we can manage better around making recoup 0.5% to 1%. The gap today is close to 2.5%. So 0.5% to 1%, we believe that we can recoup with better management of this new breed.

But the rest will take a much longer term because we will need a breach..

Great. And then shifting gears. You talked a little bit about the adverse mix effects.

And maybe if you could talk about kind of the steps you're taking or your thoughts on automation and how much that might play into your future plans? And do you have any projected CapEx spending related to that, if you are going to go to more automation?.

Sure, sure. And again, like you said, the labor market is really tight. And it has been not only constrained by the impact of discontinued governmental benefits. But now what we are seeing is that reopening of the economy after the COVID putting a big competition for a very small labor pool. And as we mentioned, we are considering all options.

And one, we are aggressively addressing the situation on the attraction, retention and management of these absent in our labor force and of course, investing in the automation.

We are happy to see that our staffing levels have improved over the last 3 months, and it helped our mix effect, but we will need to continue to invest in automation because we don't believe the labor force is going to increase significantly in the coming future.

We, over the last 2 years, reduced 2,200 positions with automation, and we expect to invest around $100 million more in the next year to reduce around 5,600 positions. We are investing also in some new technology in big bird deboning automating that big bird deboning, which is very unique, and we expect those plans to be operational about this year..

Is your question answered, Mr. Piken? As no response on the line, we will move to the next question, that is from the line of Adam Samuelson from Goldman Sachs..

So I guess, first question, maybe keying off of Mike's question about the hatchability. Just trying to get a sense your volumes in the U.S. were basically flat in the quarter, industry production was up about 2.5%.

I'm just trying to get a sense for -- in terms of your internal production, is that the actability in your own operations? Is that the labor availability? Is that an issue around mix maybe on the prepared poultry side for foodservice. Just help us think about your own volume shipments relative to industry.

And how you're thinking about your production in the back half of the year?.

Yes. Of course, Adam. Thank you. And yes, our production during the quarter was flat, a little bit up, but in total, flat year-over-year with the industry is increasing by 2.5%. But we need to remember that during the pandemic, our production did not reduce as much as the industry.

So despite being flat year-over-year, and the industry is higher, but the industry reduced pretty more than us in Q2 last year. It's not a matter of hatchability. We're having the same issues in hatchability as everybody else. We are in line with the market. It was also related a little bit with the storm that we saw in Texas.

It happened last quarter but impacted a little bit of our feed conversion and the volumes on this quarter..

Got it. That's really helpful. And Fabio, you talked earlier about the impact of feed inflation on your costs. You've kind of alluded to some of the labor challenges.

I'm just trying to think about maybe nonfeed inflation in aggregate, whether it's labor, materials, packaging, how we should think about what your nonfeed inflation is running at through the second quarter and what you think through the balance of the year, particularly as we kind of try to check that against the pricing side of things as we come off some of the seasonal peaks from here?.

Sure, sure.

And I think, Adam, we're seeing inflation everywhere in our country and in other countries, right? I think it starts with the freight, right? We are seeing freight increasing by between 10% and 20% in terms of cost and depending on the lane where we are in, and we are watching really close to any potential disruptive supply chain -- in the supply chain.

The increase in freight for us in the quarter is about $15 million. But 65% of that freight is spent on deliveries directly to our customers. So most of which has been recouped. The remain, we need to mitigate through pricing. And as you -- as we mentioned, we are seeing the supply and demand situation in a very favorable situation for the chicken part.

And we believe that we can pass all those costs in terms of freight to our contracts. There's other increase in cost as we mentioned, which is labor, labor as I mentioned, to be in a really short position right now. We increased our salaries close to $40 million on an annualized basis. And with that, we've been able to improve our staffing levels.

We are seeing soybean -- meal and soybean oil also in our Prepared Food has increased in terms of inflation. But all in all we have a differentiated portfolio and again, we have a differentiated portfolio. Not only of product but also of contracts.

While the supply/demand in chicken Industry continues to be in balance, we believe that we can pass through this price these -- this cost increases to our prices. And as I mentioned in the other answer, the chicken demand continued to be really strong, and we expect to be really strong for the next quarters..

The next question is from the line of Peter Galbo from Bank of America..

Fabio, I just want to ask a couple of clarifying questions in regards to some of the prepared comments you gave First, on the retail business. I know you said you're having pricing discussions at this point to offset some of the cost increases.

I just wasn't sure if you had said you're going to be able to offset all of the cost increase or just partial on the retail side? And then just as you were talking about kind of schools getting back in the fall and some of the commercial business, just what have you kind of seen early days? Are you seeing any kind of preordering ahead people worried about not being able to get product? Anything you can tell us kind of on that side of the business?.

Yes. Thank you. And yes, retail continues to be really strong, and we're seeing a lower demand today versus 2020 because of pantry loading. But we are seeing demand greater than 2019 levels, which is a very good for our production and our key customers. And we have this key customer strategy.

We have discussions with them all the time on the bulk pricing. And as I was talking to Adam, there is a lot of pressure in terms of costs both in feed and in nonfeed costs. And we've been discussing with them how can we pass this through the prices and help them continue with innovation and continue with features in terms of volume.

We are seeing today a very tight market for the retail because labor in the retail operation is very intensive, and we've been very challenging in the labor situation, as we mentioned, right? So the production in the retail segment has been constrained by labor.

So what we are doing is to support our key customers and giving them the best on-time in full that we've seen in years. As we are seeing also some features increases for the retails -- for the retail in the chicken side because the delta between the chicken and the beef and pork has never been as big as it is right now.

So that is very supportive on the demand for chicken. So even with the increases that we are seeing, chicken continues to be the best value and the best option for the end user..

Got it. Okay. And then on schools, maybe I missed the comments on some of the commercial side..

Yes, sure. On the -- when we call on commercial, which is the schools and other segments. Yes, we are seeing some preordering and we're seeing some expectation of a big increase there. As I mentioned, it's close -- is down close to 30% right now in that segment. We expect that to stabilize and get to normal levels by early 2022..

Got it. Okay. Okay. And then I guess just putting that all together, right, as we're thinking about some of the sequential headwinds and tailwinds, right? Labor, I think you said is maybe improving sequentially on the margin, feed, you're rolling through some of the higher cost.

But just looking back historically at periods where chicken prices are relatively high, you've been able to earn a pretty substantial level of EBITDA in your higher EBITDA quarters, right, second and third quarter.

So as we're thinking about modeling out the third quarter, is it fair to assume that you're expecting a similar level relative to 2Q? I mean is that putting it all together the right way? Or are there other things we're missing?.

Yes. We are seeing the supply and demand equation to be similar to Q2. Of course, as we enter the fall, we always see some decline in pricing, but we're also seeing some reduction in the feed side. Of course, the cost of the feed in Q3 will still be impacted by the cost of the -- what we purchased in Q2.

So we expect the mitigation of the -- or the reduction in feed cost to be more in Q4 than in Q3. So we still see some elevated feed costs in Q3. But we are seeing, once again, the supply and demand in a very good position. We are seeing some reopening of the foodservice as well.

I think it will all depend as well on the COVID numbers, if there is any more restriction and we go back to some sort of restriction in terms of movement or in terms of the foodservice, we can see the supply and demand to get less in a positive position that we are seeing right now. But as of today, we are really optimistic about what we are seeing..

Thank you. Next question is from the line of Zen -- sorry, Ken Zaslow from Bank of Montreal..

Just a quick one on this one. I know we've talked about a lot. I'm just trying to put it all together.

The labor, how much do you think it impacted this quarter not just the cost side, but also delivering -- you did say the dark meat -- how do we kind of put it together? And then would you say that within the 2022, it would be resolved, and therefore, 2022 should have a relative change relative to this year.

Is that the way to think about it? I'm just trying to put it together. Sorry for beating a dead horse here..

No, sure. Well, again, labor is what we're trying to manage better. And as we said, there is so many moving parts, and it's really hard to define what is the impact. Because there is impacting mix, right? So we can't be 1 as much as we want. There's impact in cost, of course, and yields.

We are losing yields as well because as you do debone everything the same day, so we roll front, or you sell fronts, you see a lot of yield losses. So it is very significant. On the other hand, we are working with our key customers to simplify our mix as well. So we are deboning less. We're putting some simple forms, reducing the number of SKUs.

So there's a lot of moving parts. I think the good news, and it's included in your point is that we expect in 2022 that to be resolved. We're investing in more automation, and we are seeing the labor force. And we're seeing the number of applicants increasing already as the governmental assistance is reduced.

So we expect that 2022 the labor market to be improved from the levels they are today. And we believe that with all the operational improvements that we'll do in our business, we'll get to a better operation standard, let's say, to where we are today..

Okay.

And my last question is what prevents Pilgrim's Pride from getting to the 2017 or that type of level margins in 2022? Do you just need the lever to come back? Is it positioned there already? Or do you need other things to happen given that you've progressed on your strategy, you've progressed on your efficiencies the market seems to be going that way.

Is that a way to think about it? Is it the labor the inhibitant to getting to that 2017 margin structure? Or is there anything else that we should be thinking about?.

Yes. Well, 2017 was a strong year in the Commodity segment, but -- and at the same time, we don't have the increase in the feed that we are seeing today with all the disruptions we have in the -- and the view that we are seeing in the feed side. Of course, you're right.

On the operational side, we have a lot of opportunities given the labor situation where we are in. And I think that could create an environment where we get close to 2017 levels. But that will also require the supply and demand to be in balance. If you look at in terms of supply, we're seeing very limited opportunity to increase supplies.

We don't have any new plants coming online, and we still have the hatchability issue that we expect to get something back, but not the significant improvements in hatchability that we need to significantly increase the production for next year. So we expect the production next year to increase close to 1% to 2% as we are seeing this year.

It all depends on supply-demand Ken. If we're seeing the economy really strong as we are seeing right now in the retail, we expect to continue to be strong and the foodservice is strong. Yes, we can see 2017 level margins..

Thank you. This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Fabio Sandri for closing for. Over to you, sir..

Thank you. I would like to take this opportunity to speak directly to our team members to thank you for your continued dedication to maintaining food production and supplying our customers during these extraordinary circumstances. You are the reason for our success.

I would also like to thank everyone in the Pilgrim's family who makes our business possible, including our family, farm partners, suppliers and customers. Thank you all for joining us today. We appreciate your interest in Pilgrim's..

Thank you very much. The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect..