In one of the shortest earnings conference calls in Smithfield history, Keira Lombardo, vice president of investor relations announced changes to the company’s reporting calendar to coincide with the accounting calendar of WH Group, Smithfield Foods’ parent company. This past January, the company changed the end of its fiscal year from the Sunday nearest April 30 to the Sunday nearest to Dec. 31.
“Therefore, we ended our year after eight months and midway through what was otherwise would have been our third quarter,” said Lombardo. Under the new schedule, the company’s year technically ended less than one week after Smithfield’s previous conference call. For this reason, there were no quarterly results to review during the March 25 conference call given this was a transition period.
“There simply isn’t anything to report on,” Lombardo said.
Regular reporting will resume in May, 2014, when the company’s first quarter results will be reviewed, covering the first three calendar months of 2014.
“We do not expect reporting in the new year will have any of the cumbersome predecessor and successor presentation which has marked our 2013 results except as it relates to some prior year comparisons late in the year,” she said and the affiliated costs associated with the WH Group’s acquisition of Smithfield should not have any material affect to the company’s results in the coming year.
For the previous eight months (ended Dec. 29, 2013), the company published a transition report this past week with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Click here to see the report.
