Pilgrim's Pride Trading Halted After Dropping a Record 38%

Update- September 25th.-Pilgrim's Pride Falls Most Ever After Warning of Default Risk Link

Sept. 24 (Source: Bloomberg) -- Pilgrim's Pride Corp., the biggest U.S. chicken producer, plunged 38 percent, the most ever, before trading was halted on the New York Stock Exchange.

Pilgrim's Pride tumbled $3.90 to $6.36 at 3:28 p.m. in New York before trading stopped. That was the biggest decline since the company went public in November 1986.

Company spokesman Ray Atkinson couldn't be reached for comment.

``The stock decline is based on concerns they're going to trigger some of their debt covenants, and they may have difficulty getting waivers in this credit environment,'' Heather Jones, a BB&T Capital Markets analyst, said in a telephone interview.

Pilgrim's Pride had $588.4 million available to borrow from two credit lines as of June 28, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. To avoid violating its credit agreements, the company is required to keep various measures of creditworthiness above set levels.

In April, those covenants were adjusted to levels Pilgrim's Pride said ``it can comply with in the near-term despite the current economic issues facing the chicken industry,'' according to the July SEC filing.

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