Pilgrim's Pride Corp reported an operating profit of $3.86 million in the quarter ended March 28 for its businesses that are reorganizing under bankruptcy protection, according to a monthly report filed Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

The company reported a net loss for those businesses in Chapter 11 of $61.5 million in the quarter, the court documents show.

In March, Pilgrim's Pride paid back $15.9 million in debtor-in-possession (dip) financing. The repayment of dip financing is ahead of plan, a company spokesman said Friday.

"Our financial position continues to improve and we remain well ahead of our initial projections for cash flow during the reorganization," company spokesman Ray Atkinson said in a statement emailed to Meatingplace.

The company, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December, has about $90 million in debt outstanding, out of a total dip financing authorization of about $450 million, Atkinson said.

"This is very encouraging news and another sign that we are heading in the right direction. Our goal remains to emerge successfully from Chapter 11 before the end of the 2009," Atkinson said.

BMO Capital Markets analyst Kenneth Zaslow, in a research report on Friday, said Pilgrim's Pride generated a "very respectable" operating margin of 3.5 percent in March, exceeding January's negative 4.4 percent margin and February's positive 1.2 percent margin.

"Pilgrim's Pride appears to be ahead of its operating profit targets in large part reflecting improving underlying fundamentals and new CEO Don Jackson's intense cost-cutting initiatives," said Zaslow, adding it is "increasingly probable the company will emerge from bankruptcy by year-end."

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