Minerva Foods reported a third-quarter net loss of R$717.3 million as quarterly net revenue and EBITDA fell year over year, even as revenue for the 12 months through September rose 9.5%.
For the 12 months ended Sept. 30, net revenue reached R$56.236 billion, compared with R$51.3405 billion a year earlier. Trailing 12-month earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 2.7% to R$4.7192 billion, while its margin narrowed to 8.4% from 9%. In July-September, net revenue was R$14.5206 billion, up 3% from the second quarter; EBITDA fell 13.6% year over year to R$1.1989 billion, with an 8.3% margin.
Minerva cited tighter cattle availability, particularly in Brazil, and lower shipments to China after Brazil exhausted its quota under China’s safeguard measure. The company said higher beef prices in export and domestic markets helped raise its gross margin to 17.1% from 16.5%, despite an approximately 24% annual increase in the cost of cattle ready for slaughter.
Brazil generated R$8.1166 billion in gross revenue during the quarter, down 19% from a year earlier. Gross revenue rose 50.5% in Paraguay to R$2.5266 billion and 44% in Argentina to R$1.6577 billion. Exports represented 54.8% of consolidated gross revenue.
A negative net financial result of R$1.6375 billion weighed on the quarter. Minerva said a R$254.7 million commodity-hedge effect affected third-quarter earnings before the related cattle were expected to be slaughtered in the fourth quarter; it expects most of the offset to appear as lower cost of goods sold in later quarters. After excluding foreign-exchange hedging, commodity hedging and exchange-rate variation, the company reported R$120 million in recurring net income.
At Sept. 30, Minerva held R$13.9 billion in cash and equivalents. The company said the balance was enough to meet scheduled debt repayments through 2029; net leverage was 3.2 times trailing 12-month EBITDA. Minerva scheduled its results call for Thursday, Nov. 12, at 7 a.m. EST (12:00 UTC).
