Industrias Bachoco S.A.B. de C.V., Mexico's leading poultry producer, announced its unaudited results for the fourth quarter and full year ending December 31, 2009. Total sales for the fourth quarter rose 2.2% and 15.7% during 2009 and Bachoco continued to record historic chicken volume sales.
Cristobal Mondragon, Bachoco's CEO, said, “At the year end, the balance was positive, reaching significant improvements from last year: We recorded the highest chicken volume sales, and positive operating and net margins, while we increased our chicken market share as a result of our latest business acquisition.”
The company's gross margin for 2009 was 16.9%, higher than the 13.1% recorded in 2008, and was attributed to higher sales in most of the business lines, mainly in chicken and table egg products.
Net sales for the fourth quarter amounted to MEX$5,800.3M, compared with MEX$5,674.3M in the fourth quarter of 2008. This increase was mainly driven by a 1.6% increase in chicken sales, a 6.3% increase in table egg sales and a 2.8% increase in swine sales. These were partially offset by a 2.3% decrease in feed sales.
Net sales for 2009 amounted to MEX$23,271.8M from MEX$20,109.6M in 2008. The increase was mainly driven by the 17.8% increase in chicken sales, 11.8% in table eggs sales and 11.7% in swine sales; which were partially offset by a slight decrease in feed sales of 0.4%.
Mondragon said that the chicken industry was stable during the fourth quarter. However, thanks to a slow economy, prices remained under pressure because of the Mexican consumer’s weaker purchasing power.
