Durrant Pate/ Contributor

Jamaican agricultural conglomerate Jamaica Broilers Group (JBG) has sold its American hatchery assets for US$23 million.

The company has entered into an agreement with an unnamed company to sell the hatchery assets, located in Iowa. These assets were previously purchased in March 2016 from Welp Inc. and were held through the JBG’s subsidiary, International Poultry Breeders Hatcheries, Inc.

The company says, “This asset sale transaction is a strategic decision of JBG to consolidate its assets, and to increase the efficiency of JBG’s vertical integration in the United States”.

In the meantime, JBG witnessed modest growth in the January quarter, as both its local and American operations recorded an eight perc ent growth. As a result, JBG produced a net profit attributable to shareholders of J$1.3 billion, with the group continuing to be strong and its gross margins are consistent within expectations.

January 2024 quarterly revenues amounted to J$23.6 billion, a 4.0 per cent increase above the J$22.7 billion. The Jamaica operations reported a segment result of J$5.9 billion, which was J$448 million or 8.0 per cent above last year’s segment result.

Total revenue for the Jamaican operations showed an increase of 2.0 per cent over the prior year’s nine-month period. This increase was primarily driven by the growth in the sale and export of poultry and implementation of cost containment efforts.

As for the US operations, JBG reported a segment result of J$3 billion, which was J$226 million or 8.0 per cent above last year’s. This increase was driven by increased volumes of poultry meat and eggs, as well as the implementation of cost management initiatives.