Northern Ireland's Moy Park key role within Pilgrim's Pride

The acquisition of Moy Park, Northern Ireland's biggest poultry processor last year, contributed to the strong performance of Pilgrim's Pride.

The top US poultry processor has reported strong net sales and income margins of 11.8 percent in the US, 10.6 percent in Mexico and 3.9 percent in Europe.

Pilgrim's Pride 2017 highlights included the acquisition of Moy Park in September, which the company said "positions us as the global leader in chicken and chicken-based prepared foods".

Moy Park, based at Dungannon in county Armagh, is Northern Ireland's biggest food processor. The business, which had sales in excess of £1 billion in 2017, was sold to Pilgrim's Pride last year by JBS of Brazil.

Bill Lovette, chief executive officer of Pilgrim's, said: "We generated strong, well-balanced consolidated performance in 2017. Our US and Mexico operations were solid, despite logistical challenges in Q4 due to the after-effects from natural events in Puerto Rico, Mexico and the US, while our newly acquired UK and continental Europe operations were consistent."

Global demand for poultry remained strong, he added.

"The performance once again demonstrated the strength and diversity of our portfolio of bird sizes, and is what fundamentally differentiates us from the competition, giving us the potential to reduce volatility and generate higher margins over time," he said.

Pilgrim's employs approximately 51,300 people and operates chicken processing plants and prepared-foods facilities in 14 states, Puerto Rico, Mexico, the U.K, Ireland and continental Europe.

The company's primary distribution is through retailers and foodservice distributors.

With corporate headquarters located in Greeley, Colorado, the company has operations in 14 US states as well as in Mexico and Puerto Rico. Pilgrim's Pride is a part of the JBS USA family.