JBS announced the appointment of Wesley Batista Filho as chief executive for its US business, with effect from 1 May, in a notice to the market on 27 April. His predecessor, Tim Schellpeper, retired from the role on the same date.

The incoming CEO is a grandson for the company founder and has been in the business for the past 13 years in various senior roles.

He takes over at a time when US factory cattle prices are the highest in the major beef trading countries of the world, at the equivalent of €5.60/kg.

This had the effect of reducing JBS earnings before income, taxation, interest, depreciation and amortisation (EDITDA) in its US beef division for 2022 by 56% to 10.7bn BRL (€1.9bn), which is still a very healthy EBITDA margin of 9.4%, but dramatically lower than the exceptional performance of 2021 when the EBITDA margin was 21%.

Performance squeezed

Performance in the final quarter of 2022 was particularly squeezed, as cattle prices soared. EBITDA was down a huge 85.5% compared with the final quarter in 2021, to the equivalent of €178.6m, a 3.6% margin.

The JBS US business is centred around beef processing and the Pilgrim’s Pride Chicken business, owners of Moy Park and the former meat and meals division of Kerry Foods.

JBS results for the first quarter of 2023 will be announced next week. These are expected to show the US division still under some pressure, though the fall in cattle prices in Brazil and Australia should mean strong performances there.

JBS recently agreed to pay $25m (€22.6m) to commercial beef buyers who accused the industry of keeping prices artificially high.