The company's EBITDA margin rose by 16.5 per cent compared to 14.1 per cent during the first quarter, while earnings per share (EPA) was $1.81 pesos during the second quarter as against $2.91 in the first quarter of 2014.

Rodolfo Ramos Arvizu, Director General of Bachoco, commented that the second quarter results were in line with the typical seasonal behaviour of the Mexican poultry industry. According to Mr Arvizu, the second quarter is usually a strong period for the poultry sector.

Mr Arvizu said: "On the one hand, we see a balance between supply and demand in our core lines of business in both Mexican and American markets. On the other hand, following international trends, we observed a reduction in the cost of our main raw materials, mainly in maize, a condition that benefited our cost production.

"These factors allowed us to increase our total sales, and report strong quarterly results with double digits in all our margins. This has thus allowed us to achieve the first half operating results, practically the same results in the extraordinary first half of 2013, which represented a difficult comparison base.

"The Company recorded a negative net debt of $7.171 billion, which positions us as a financially strong company."