The Marfrig Group, one of the largest global food companies based on beef, pork, poultry and fish, announced record net revenues in the third quarter of fiscal 2011. Operating cash flow totaled R$ 310.5 million, 184% up from the previous quarter.

“The third quarter of 2011 marked an important step towards the consolidation of Marfrig's long-term strategy,” stated Marcos Antonio Molina dos Santos, CEO and chairman of the Brazilian company. “The company improved its operational efficiency, with the capture of synergies among the business divisions, reduced costs and expenses and generated R$310.5 million in operating cash flow, all of which underlines our management team's commitment to delivering consistent results and creating value for our shareholders. Despite all the setbacks and uncertainties in the global economic scenario throughout the quarter, including inflationary pressure in the countries where we operate, exchange rate volatility and still high grain and cattle prices, we recorded robust net revenue growth of 45.1% over 3Q10 and of 3.8% over the previous quarter.

“We implemented several initiatives aimed at continuing with our operational improvements and financial discipline, which resulted in higher capacity utilization in our plants, better control and management of working capital accounts, lower administrative and selling expenses, and, as expected, a reduction in Capex (R$92.9 million, excluding breeding stock) over previous quarters,” he added. “The virtuous combination of all these factors allowed us to make considerable progress in regard to the generation of free cash flow and led to a substantial increase in operational profitability. The positive results show that our strategy of building a complete portfolio of high value-added products, strong brand loyalty and a global platform for the development, production, sale and distribution of food products, is increasingly aligned and integrated.”

Consolidated net operating revenue was R$5.52 billion for the quarter, up 45% from R$3.81 billion in 3Q10.

Source: Marfrig