JBS S.A. shareholders on April 29 approved dividend payments to themselves of $12.3 million Brazilian reais, or $5.7 million in U.S. dollars.
Jeremiah O’Callaghan, JBS’s investors relations director, said in a statement that the dividend was "less than had initially been proposed by the administration of the company" but shareholders decided to distribute 50 percent of the net profit of the period ending Dec. 31, 2008, while "maintaining the remaining balance of accrued profits as an expansion reserve."
JBS S.A. owns JBS Swift in Greeley, which it purchased in July 2007.