Plant Closing #20

Pilgrim's Pride has appeared a few times in this blog. For some reason I keep reading about their travails. Now, after filing for bankruptcy in December, Pilgrim's Pride is closing a plant and letting 280 people go. Read more here. Can someone explain why this company is in so much trouble? Has chicken demand dropped so much in the recession?

Pilgrim's Pride has announced plans to shut down their chicken processing
plant in Dalton within 60 days.
President Don Jackson says the move is aimed at reducing costs and operating more efficiently.

Pilgrim's Pride Chapter 11

I posted about Pilgrim's Pride a few weeks ago. At the time they announced about 300 layoffs due to sluggish sales. Now:

The poultry giant, Marshall County’s largest employer, is seeking Chapter 11 protection. That would free the company from the threat of creditors’ lawsuits while it reorganizes its finances.

Matt Arnold, president and CEO of the Marshall County Economic Development Council, said Pilgrim’s Pride is in relatively good shape because its assets outweigh its debts.

“It’s just a matter of liquidity,” he said. “They need some cash to get them through a tough spot right now.

“I think we just keep plugging along. A lot of these farmers who had Gold Kist stock when it was cooperative kept their stock, and now that stock’s not worth a whole lot, but it’s going to come back up.”

Plant Closing #12

From their website; Pilgrim's Pride produces healthy, high-quality food products that go into some of the world's finest recipes.

• Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NYSE: PPC) is the largest chicken company in the U.S. and the second-largest in Mexico.
• Net sales in fiscal 2007 totaled $7.6 billion.
• Pilgrim's Pride is currently ranked #327 on the Fortune 500 list of largest U.S. corporations.
• Pilgrim's Pride employs approximately 50,000 people in the U.S. and Mexico.

This news is not shocking from a percentage impact to their employment, what I didn't know is that a suffering economy impacts chicken producers.

HARRISONBURG VA - Pilgrim's Pride will cut more than 300 jobs nationwide as it wrestles with the sluggish economy, the company announced in a statement Friday. A source close to the company's Broadway plant says the local facility will likely cut "six to seven" positions. A Pilgrim's Pride spokesman would not confirm that figure

They supply Kentucky Fried Chicken, maybe people are eating out less.