JBS Calls Time on Real Big Short That Earned It $3 Billion
- Meat packer cut size of derivatives position in first quarter
- CEO says real to strengthen more as Brazil outlook improves
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As JBS SA explained to investors Thursday a plan to restructure the world’s biggest beef producer, it announced another milestone: the end of the Brazilian company’s enormous currency-hedging program.
JBS earned an estimated 10.6 billion reais ($3 billion) last year from betting against the real, more than profits from its beef, poultry and pork businesses combined. The currency slumped 33 percent against the dollar in 2015 on the deepening recession in Brazil, the prospect of rising U.S. interest rates and falling commodity prices. JBS said the strategy protected its foreign debt from becoming bloated when measured in local-currency terms.