Jamaica Broilers Group Limited (JBG) has committed to improving transparency with shareholders through the release of monthly financial reports as it works to complete an ongoing review of its United States operations.

JBG released the provisional report on Friday, a day after it indicated to the market that its audited financial statements would be delayed until August 29. The delay is due to JBG completing a complex review of its US operations. JBG separated its entire management team in the US in January following issues relating to expense management and operational controls. The report was due to be published on July 2, two months after its financial year ended on May 3.

“Given the challenges we have faced with our US operations, we have developed this provisional report for increasing transparency with our shareholders. The board has approved this reporting format through which we will be providing a routine snapshot of JBG’s profit performance on a monthly basis, until the reports are finalised through the quarterly submission. These will be submitted for the first six months of the 2025/2026 financial year,” JBG stated in its provisional report. In this instance, it means JBG will be publishing these reports for the months of May to November 2025.

The report revealed that for the month of May, JBG’s consolidated revenue grew 16 per cent from $7.08 billion to $8.19 billion. Although the group’s gross profit improved 12 per cent to $1.88 billion, the gross profit margin dipped from 23.7 per cent to 23.0 per cent due to the higher cost of sales.

After covering operating expenses, JBG’s operating profit rose by 50 per cent—from $568 million to $853 million. Profit before tax also increased by 28 per cent, moving from $406 million to $520 million. Looking at the performance of each region, its Jamaica operation earned $795 million in operating profit before corporate costs. In the US, the operating profit was $188 million before its share of corporate expenses were deducted, while in the Caribbean, the similar figure was $23 million. Altogether, these contributed to a group total of $1.04 billion in operating profit before corporate costs.

For May, the US operations made up 18 per cent of the group’s total operating profit before corporate costs. That is down from 40 per cent in 2024 and 32 per cent in 2023. The higher 2024 figure was due to a one-off gain from selling assets at International Poultry Breeders Hatcheries Inc.

JBG’s USA operations were previously overseen by Executive Director and President Stephen Levy and Executive Director and Vice-President of Operations Syd A Mogg. However, both men resigned as directors of the company and left the company on May 3 following reviews by corporate management. JBG Group President & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Christopher Levy is currently overseeing the USA operations.

JBG’s USA operations had a US$13-million net loss ($2.05 billion) for the company’s third quarter (November to January) as it recorded prior invoices that weren’t accounted for in previous periods. That net loss dragged the group into a consolidated net loss of $1.15 billion compared to a consolidated net profit of $1.30 billion.

JBG has brought in external advisors to review the operational controls and valuation methodologies at its US operations. It’s also introduced an internal audit department and has streamlined the USA systems and processes with the Dynamic 365 platform, a suite of cloud-based business applications. All JBG subsidiaries located outside of Jamaica are externally audited by non-PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) firms.

Based on preliminary reports from its external advisors, JBG provided an update to the market on June 2 regarding its US operations. One material item mentioned was unsubstantiated accounting valuation methodologies which affected several financial statement line items, including inventories and biological assets. This means that valuations for inventories and biological assets in the US operations were not properly supported or documented. Those two line items made up 58 per cent of the group’s asset base and 22 per cent of the company’s asset base as per the 2024 audited financials.

Jamaica Broilers’ biological assets include beef cattle, breeder flocks held for the production of hatching eggs, layer pullets being grown for sale to table egg farmers, layer pullets held for the production of table eggs, and broiler flocks at various stages of growth. JBG’s inventories include grain and feed ingredients, inventories for resale, goods in transit and general supplies.

These material issues will likely result in JBG restating its inventories and biological assets.
As a result, JBG anticipates a material negative impact on the historic profitability of its US operations and group consolidated financials.

“As bankers and long-standing partners, we have conducted our due diligence and remain firm in our confidence in Jamaica Broilers, an indigenous business that has consistently demonstrated its importance to the national economy and industry,” stated Robert Almeida, group CEO of NCB Financial Group Limited (NCBFG), in a June 8 newspaper advertisement.

NCBFG is the parent company of National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited (NCBJ), one of JBG’s bankers. The Bank of Nova Scotia Jamaica Limited (BNSJ) and Sagicor Bank Jamaica Limited (SBJ) are the company’s other two local bankers. JBG Director Bruce Bowen is the CEO of NCBJ and former CEO of BNSJ.

JBG’s stock price increased one per cent to $25.08 on Monday which left it with a market capitalisation of $30.08 billion. However, the stock is down 30.18 per cent year-to-date with a new 52-week low on July 2 and far from the 52-week high of $42.31 on December 30.