Fitch upgrades Pilgrim’s Pride

Fitch Ratings said it upgraded Pilgrim’s Pride Corp.’s long-term issuer default rating and senior unsecured notes to BB+ from BB.

Fitch has also affirmed the company’s U.S. credit facilities at BBB-. The secured loans are secured by accounts receivable, inventories and substantially all of its U.S. assets. The secured loans are rated a notch above the IDR due to its outstanding recovery prospects, Fitch said.

“The upgrade reflects the linkage to parent company, JBS SA, through Fitch’s parent and subsidiary rating criteria and the related upgrade of the LT IDR of JBS to BB+, as well as PPC’s strong liquidity and moderate standalone leverage expected in 2020 despite weaker performance expected for this year due to excess chicken supply. The rating of JBS and PPC are constrained by various ESG issues, including ongoing litigation at PPC related to price fixing in the U.S.,” Fitch said in a press release.

The outlook is stable.

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