May 2, 2007 10:54 AM

Pilgrim's Pride Corp, the Pittsburg TX-based chicken company, reported a net loss of $40.1 million on total sales of $1.99 billion for the fiscal second quarter ended March 31, 2007. These results include, for the first time, the acquisition of Gold Kist Inc, which was completed Dec 27, 2006. For the second quarter of fiscal 2006, the company had a net loss of $32.0 million on total sales of $1.27 billion.

O B Goolsby Jr, Pilgrim's Pride president and chief executive officer, said the firm’s United States operations returned to profitability late in the second quarter--and the company is currently profitable in the third quarter--as production cutbacks helped strike a better balance between production and demand.

For the six months ended March 31, 2007, the company reported a net loss of $48.8 million on total sales of $3.33 billion. In the same period a year earlier, Pilgrim's Pride tallied a net loss of $6.3 million on sales of $2.61 billion.