JBS, the Brazilian meat giant, has reported mixed first-quarter results, with the company’s net income and sales rising – but its EBITDA down on lower profits from its US chicken unit. The company, which owns JBS Swift Australia, this week booked a 47.9% increase in net income to BRL 147 million for the three months to the end of March. JBS’s operating income more than doubled at BRL 172.2 million (US$107.3m) as the company benefited from higher sales and lower finance costs. The... ...Read more »

Meat giant JBS, owner of Australia’s JBS Swift and Rockdale, has rebuffed allegations that it illegally purchased cattle in the state of Acre, Brazil. Brazilian prosecutors have brought a civil lawsuit against the company, alleging that over the last four years, JBS purchased cattle from land in the Amazon that was illegally deforested and from farms linked to slavery. However, JBS has insisted that all cattle purchased from Acre comply with its commitment to the mandates of the Brazilian Environmental... ...Read more »

The lockout of workers at the Swift meatworks in Brooklyn, Victoria, has entered its second month, after NUW members again voted to reject the company’s 2% annual pay offer. One hundred and forty cold storage workers at Swift Australia, Brooklyn had agreed to taking industrial action on December 3rd last year, following a wage offer they described as ‘well below the cost of living.’ “This pay offer will send workers and their families backwards at a time when workers are facing... ...Read more »

US food group Sara Lee is reportedly considering splitting its processed meats and coffee operations into two companies.According to reports in the US, Sara Lee is weighing up whether to break up the business following the stalling of sale talks with Brazilian meat giant JBS before Christmas. In the week before Christmas, it was reported that Sara Lee had rejected a takeover bid from JBS due to a disagreement over price. The Financial Times reported yesterday that there has been no definitive end... ...Read more »

US food group Sara Lee is understood to have rejected a takeover offer for its US business from Brazilian meat giant JBS, who also own Swift Australia, due to a disagreement over price. Sara Lee’s management has been in talks to sell the business to JBS for a few months, Bloomberg reported today (20 December). However, the bakery giant has turned down an offer from JBS, deeming it “too low”. It is understood the bid was less than Sara Lee’s intraday high of $17.62 on 17 December,... ...Read more »

Swift Australia today reopened its King Island abbatoir, with assistance from the Tasmanian state government. Tasmanian Premier David Bartlett said today the multi-million dollar upgrade of the King Island abattoir ensured a sustainable and long term future for jobs and the local economy. Mr Bartlett joined King Island Mayor Charles Arnold to officially open the refurbished Swift Australia abattoir and celebrate a new beginning for the plant which faced closure last year. “This vindicates the Government’s... ...Read more »

Brazilian meat giant JBS yesterday (21 September) revealed what it had paid for Australia’s Rockdale Beef after receiving competition approval to buy the business. JBS, which signed a deal to buy Rockdale in March, said it had paid A$40m (US$37.9m) for the business, although the price tag is “subject to further adjustments based on the level of the working capital at completion”. Rockdale’s assets include a meatworks capacity of around 200,000 cattle a year and a feedlot... ...Read more »

Brazilian meat giant JBS has entered into an agreement to acquire Rockdale Beef through its subsidiary Swift Australia. When contacted the company declined to reveal the financial details of the deal.  However, a spokesperson said that the acquisition would boost JBS’s beef capacity to supply operations in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. Based in Riverina, New South Wales, Rockdale operates an integrated meatworks, feedlot, feed mill and farming business. The company has a capacity... ...Read more »

Brazil’s JBS S.A. has, through its wholly owned subsidiary Swift Australia, reached an agreement with Vion food Group to acquire Tatiara Meat Company (TMC).”TMC is a high quality lamb processing business, servicing quality high end markets in the United States, Canada and Europe. It has a strong brand and quality product reputation both in the international and Australian domestic market,” JBS noted in a statement.  JBS agreed to pay $30 million for Bordertown-based Tatiara –... ...Read more »