Brazil meat giant has eye on U.S. firms
JBS SA, which became the biggest meat company in the world by spending $5 billion to buy U.S. companies, says U.S. assets remain attractive with the dollar's rally against emerging-market currencies just getting started.
The dollar will strengthen as prices adjust for everything from labor to commodities to restore the competitiveness of emerging economies including Brazil after a decade of rising wages and other costs, according to Wesley Batista, JBS' chief executive officer, whose family controls the company.
"Several years of inflation and real wage gains made Brazil much less competitive compared to the U.S.," Batista, whose company gets most of its revenue from U.S. operations, said last week in an interview at JBS headquarters in Sao Paulo. "The U.S. can now produce chicken at the same cost we produce in Brazil, which was unimaginable some years ago."
JBS took advantage of the weak dollar to expand through acquisitions that included Swift & Co. and Pilgrim's Pride Corp. in 2007 and 2009, respectively. Now Batista believes "there is still value to be created" in the U.S.
JBS last year made a $6.7 billion offer for Jimmy Dean sausage-maker Hillshire Brands Co. in a bidding war won by rival Springdale-based Tyson Foods Inc. The Brazilian meatpacker has been seeking to diversify into more value-added segments such as packaged and branded food products. For now the company is prioritizing debt reduction and improving profit, he said.
"Now we are building muscle," Batista said. "Great opportunities will never end. We were a beef company some years ago, then we became the largest protein company and we see ourselves in the middle, long term, as a global food company."
-- Bloomberg News
Home Depot aim: Apple Pay in all stores
Home Depot Inc. has the goal of offering Apple Inc.'s mobile-payment platform at its more than 2,000 stores, which would make it the largest retailer yet to accept Apple Pay.
"It's something we'd like to do," Steve Holmes, a spokesman for Atlanta-based Home Depot, said last week. However, a deal with Apple isn't in place, so the plan isn't final, he said. The chain, which currently accepts PayPal, also may add other kinds of mobile payment, he said.
Customers already were able to use Apple Pay at some of Home Depot's stores despite there not being an agreement. The world's largest home-improvement retailer could accept mobile payments at those locations because its checkout terminals have near-field communication readers.
Those devices have been turned off for the past few weeks during an upgrade of its point-of-sale system, Holmes said. That led to some inaccurate reports that Home Depot had dropped Apple Pay.
If it pushes ahead with the plan, Home Depot would join retailers like Macy's Inc. and Whole Foods Market Inc. in embracing Apple Pay at stores. Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. also offers Apple Pay at its U.S. stores. Home Depot outranks the Walgreens chain in total revenue, though the drugstore chain has more locations.
Many other retailers are betting on a mobile-payment option from the Merchant Customer Exchange, which was founded in 2012 by companies such as Bentonville-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Target Corp. That offering, CurrentC, is still being developed.
-- Bloomberg News
Bojangles' stock goes public, sizzles
NEW YORK -- Bojangles stock is surging in its market debut after the chicken and biscuits restaurant operator's initial public offering raised $147.3 million.
The company sold almost 7.8 million shares for $19 per share. That price was at the high end of its estimates.
Bojangles Inc. stock closed at $23.75, up $4.75, or 25 percent, in trading Friday on the Nasdaq.
The Charlotte, N.C.-based company had 622 restaurants at the end of 2014, all but three in the U.S. Bojangles says its restaurants combine fast-food speed with the quality of "fast casual" chains.
In 2014, Bojangles' annual net income rose 4 percent to $25.9 million and revenue grew 15 percent to $430.5 million.
Bojangles said earlier in the week that it planned to sell 8.9 million shares. The stock is now trading under the ticker symbol "BOJA."
-- The Associated Press
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