Greeley – Meat processor Swift & Co.’s net sales declined 6.9 percent to $2.09 billion in the third quarter, the company reported today, saying it is recovering from production declines caused by December immigration raids at six plants.
Sam Rovit, Swift’s president and chief executive officer, said pork production returned to normal in March and beef production was expected to recover by summer.
He said the company is also benefiting from cost and operational improvements.
“We are well on our way to a full recovery,” Rovit said in a written release.
The privately held company said Swift Beef sales declined 15.8 percent in the three months ended Feb. 25 while Swift Australia sales rose 14 percent and Swift Pork sales rose 2.9 percent.
The company said its third-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was a negative $9 million, a $21 million improvement from a negative $30 million in the same period a year ago. EBITDA improvements in Swift Beef and Swift Australia more than offset a decline in Swift Pork, Swift said.
Swift said in January it was looking into strategies for its future ranging from refinancing to a sale or initial public offering. Executives said they began reviewing the options after they received some unsolicited inquiries over the past six months.
The Dec. 12 raids hit Swift plants in Greeley; Grand Island, Neb.; Cactus, Texas; Hyrum, Utah; Marshalltown, Iowa; and Worthington, Minn. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 1,282 workers. Nearly 250 face state or federal identity theft charges and the rest face immigration charges.
In January, Swift said its preliminary estimate of the one-time impact of the raids included $20 million, mostly in lost operating efficiency as new employees are retrained, plus up to $10 million to retain workers and offer hiring incentives to add back production employees.
“The widely reported government raids on our domestic production facilities early in the third quarter reduced the sales and profitability of our U.S. beef and pork segments in the period,” Rovit said.
