JBS, the Brazilian meat processor, has posted an annual net loss of almost BRL303m (US$182.6m) for 2010 thanks to a penalty fee linked to its delayed IPO in the US.
The company yesterday (23 March) booked net income of BRL302.7m for 2010 compared to a profit of BRL220.7m in 2009
In the fourth quarter, JBS made a net loss of BRL499.5m – against net income of BRL127.9m in the same period in 2009.
In December, JBS said it would have to pay a fee of BRL521.9m to Brazilian bank BNDES after the company delayed the IPO of its US business. A year earlier, BNDES had acquired US$2bn in bonds from JBS that would have allowed the bank to switch the bonds into shares of the US unit or JBS itself. After JBS decided to delay the US IPO, it had to pay the bank a penalty.
However, JBS also reported that its 2010 EBITDA reached BRL3.76bn, almost triple the BRL1.28bn filed in 2009. EBITDA from three of JBS’s four divisions – US beef, US pork and Mercosul, which covers its business in South America – rose. However, EBITDA from its US chicken unit fell.
The company’s sales jumped 57.7% to BRL55.06bn thanks, in the main, to rising US beef and pork sales and higher revenue from its businesses in South America. US chicken sales rose 1%.

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