PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT

Property, plant and equipment (“PP&E”), net consisted of the following:



	September 25, 2016			December 27, 2015
	(In thousands)
Land	$	109,557		$	105,165
Buildings	1,164,486			1,131,379
Machinery and equipment	1,766,102			1,657,573
Autos and trucks	50,076			53,408
Construction-in-progress	181,368			152,619
PP&E, gross	3,271,589			3,100,144
Accumulated depreciation	(1,821,237		)	(1,747,615		)
PP&E, net	$	1,450,352		$	1,352,529

The Company recognized depreciation expense of $42.8 million and $38.8 million during the thirteen weeks ended September 25, 2016 and September 27, 2015, respectively. The Company recognized depreciation expense of $124.7 million and $109.4 million during the thirty-nine weeks ended September 25, 2016 and September 27, 2015, respectively.

During the thirty-nine weeks ended September 25, 2016, we spent $173.4 million on capital projects and transferred $158.5 million of completed projects from construction-in-progress to depreciable assets. During the thirty-nine weeks ended September 27, 2015, we spent $129.8 million on capital projects and transferred $101.5 million of completed projects from construction-in-progress to depreciable assets. Capital expenditures were primarily incurred during the thirty-nine weeks ended September 25, 2016 to improve efficiencies and reduce costs.

During the thirteen and thirty-nine weeks ended September 25, 2016, the Company sold certain PP&E for cash of $2.2 million and $10.3 million, respectively and recognized net gains on these sales of $0.6 million and $7.3 million, respectively. PP&E sold in the thirty-nine weeks ended included a processing plant in Louisiana, poultry farms in Mexico and Texas, an office building in Texas, vacant land in Alabama and Texas and miscellaneous equipment. During the thirteen and thirty-nine weeks ended September 27, 2015, the Company sold miscellaneous equipment for cash of $11.4 million and $13.6 million and recognized a net gain of $8.5 million and $9.8 million, respectively.

Management has committed to the sale of certain properties and related assets, including, but not limited to, a processing complex in Texas and other miscellaneous assets, which no longer fit into the operating plans of the Company. The Company is actively marketing these properties and related assets for immediate sale and believes a sale of each property can be consummated within the next 12 months. At both September 25, 2016 and December 27, 2015, the Company reported properties and related assets totaling $6.0 million and $6.6 million, respectively, in the line item Assets held for sale on its Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. The Company tested the recoverability of its assets held for sale and determined that the aggregate carrying amount of the Texas processing complex asset group was recoverable over the remaining life of the respective primary asset in that asset group.

The Company has closed or idled various processing complexes, processing plants, hatcheries, broiler farms, and feed mills throughout the U.S. Neither the Board of Directors nor JBS has determined if it would be in the best interest of the Company to divest any of these idled assets. Management is therefore not certain that it can or will divest any of these assets within one year, is not actively marketing these assets and, accordingly, has not classified them as assets held for sale. The Company continues to depreciate these assets. At September 25, 2016, the carrying amount of these idled assets was $63.1 million based on depreciable value of $193.1 million and accumulated depreciation of $130.0 million.

The Company last tested the recoverability of its long-lived assets held and used in December 2015. At that time, the Company determined that the carrying amount of its long-lived assets held and used was recoverable over the remaining life of the primary asset in the group and that long-lived assets held and used passed the Step 1 recoverability test under ASC 360-10-35, Impairment or Disposal of Long-Lived Assets. There were no indicators present during the thirty-nine weeks ended September 25, 2016 that required the Company to test its long-lived assets held and used for recoverability.