Durrant Pate/Contributor

Jamaica Broilers Group (JBG), which has been facing challenging times recently due to its American operations, is exhibiting resilience with a slight improvement in its half-year performance, ending November 1, 2025, with a net profit of $1.2 billion, up from $1 billion for the corresponding period last year. 

However, the last quarter was less than impressive, chalking up a net loss of $379 million, attributable to shareholders, compared with a net profit of $756 million for the corresponding period last year. “While this reflects the continued challenges within our US Operations, it also underscores the resilience of our core Jamaican business and the decisive actions underway to restore Group profitability,” explained the father and son team of JBG Chairman, Robert Levy and his son, Christopher Levy, Group President & CEO.

Group revenues for the six months amounted to $50 billion, representing a 6% increase over the corresponding six months in the previous year. Gross profit for the half-year amounted to $10.3 billion, a 7% increase over the corresponding six months last year. The gross margin for the period closed on 20.6%, slightly up from the 20.3% in the prior year. The Jamaica Operations reported a segment result of $3.6 billion, which was $333 million or 10% above last year’s segment result. 

Disaggregated performance

Total revenue for the  Jamaica Operations showed a decrease of 1% from the prior year’s six-month period. The segment result for the US Operations was lower for the period, reflecting increased feed and production costs, along with continued pressure on market selling prices. The operations have already taken steps to improve cost performance, including optimising live-bird yields, enhancing plant efficiency and adjusting pricing where market conditions allow. 

During the quarter, JBG completed the revaluation of its land and buildings, adding approximately $53 billion to asset values and increasing stockholders’ equity by $41 billion, net of deferred taxes, significantly strengthening the balance sheet. Stockholders’ equity now stands at $32 billion. 

Recovering from earlier financial crisis

Earlier this year, the Jamaican agricultural conglomerate was thrown into crisis after accounting irregularities at its US operations forced a restatement of its prior results, which involved a massive write-down of intangible assets, goodwill, and biological assets, wiping billions from its stated equity. The crisis was ignited by the discovery of material “accounting irregularities” within the US operations, and an internal investigation found “material prior period errors” resulting in a massive write-down of intangible assets, goodwill, and a re-estimation of inventory and biological assets.

The fallout led to the departure of the entire US management team, including Stephen Levy, the son and brother of the Chairman and Group President, respectively, who resigned as president of the US operations after more than 22 years with the company. In a rare move, PwC issued a qualified opinion on the financial statements. The qualification stems from the firm’s inability to obtain sufficient evidence regarding the “completeness” of the accounting irregularities as the company’s internal investigation “did not include certain forensic electronic communication searches ordinarily expected given the circumstances”.

The specific irregularities, detailed in the financial report, reveal how the company’s US operations artificially boosted its financial health. Essentially, the division overstated the value of its assets, claiming its live chickens (“biological assets”) and stockpiles of feed and grain (“inventories”) were worth far more than they truly were. At the same time, it failed to record certain debts (“unrecorded liabilities”), understating how much it truly owed.