Well see an environment that will continue with commodities
at high prices relative to the past, but more stable compared with the recent past
黑料海角91入口 SAB, the world鈥檚 largest breadmaker, doesn鈥檛 plan any major acquisitions until 2014 as the company seeks to first obtain cost savings from its latest purchases, Chief Executive Officer Daniel Servitje said.
鈥淭his year is going to be a year particularly focused within the company on processing the integrations of the acquisitions we did last year,鈥听Servitje said in an interview yesterday at a summit in Los Cabos, Mexico.听鈥淭here could be one here or there, but of a relatively small size.鈥
Bimbo, based in Mexico City, bought Argentina鈥檚 Alimentos Fargo SA, which had听annual sales of about $150 million, in September. In October, it won approval to buy Sara Lee Corp. (SLE)鈥檚 North American bakeries for $675 million and agreed to buy Sara Lee鈥檚 bakery unit in Spain andPortugal for about $150 million.
Bimbo can reduce costs by requiring the factories it acquired to use the same processes as their new owner, Servitje said at the B-20 summit. That should improve profit margins in the second-half 2012 compared with 2011, he said.
鈥淚n the long term, today we鈥檙e leading players worldwide in breadmaking, and we want to continue that leadership, which implies maintaining a level of organic growth and, here and there, also important non-organic growth,鈥听Servitje said.
Bimbo鈥檚 first-quarter profit margin, excluding interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, fell to 10.5 percent from 12.2 percent a year earlier, the company said April 26.
Wheat Prices
Profit margins were also hurt by prices for commodities such as wheat that are priced in dollars, which prompted cost increases as the peso weakened. The peso sank 9.5 percent against the dollar last month, the most among major currencies, as concern Europe鈥檚 debt crisis is worsening prompted investors globally to avoid higher-yielding assets.
Wheat prices may fall as global supplies of the grain are 鈥渁dequate鈥 and as economic concerns cut demand, Rabobank International said today in a report.
鈥淲e鈥檒l see an environment that will continue with commodities at high prices relative to the past, but more stable compared with the recent past,鈥听Servitje said.
Wheat futures for December delivery surged 3.3 percent to $6.725 a bushel today on the Chicago Board of Trade.
Bond Sales
After selling $800 million in dollar-denominated bonds in January and 5 billion pesos ($361 million) in Mexican bonds in February, Bimbo doesn鈥檛 need more debt sales,听Servitje said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 our intention to reduce our leverage from what we have today,鈥听he said.听鈥淥ur refinancing was very opportune, at good rates, and that gives us a lot of security in the company鈥檚 long-term plans.鈥
Mexican companies that are sound financially are still attracting investment in the debt market, he said.
鈥淲hile before it was difficult to be a Latin American company, now it鈥檚 an advantage,鈥听he said.
Bimbo fell 0.6 percent to 30.79 pesos at the close in Mexico City.