PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT

3 Months Ended

Mar. 26, 2023

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENTProperty, plant and equipment (“PP&E”), net consisted of the following:


	March 26, 2023		December 25, 2022
	(In thousands)
Land	$	267,245	$	263,494
Buildings	2,090,190		2,065,042
Machinery and equipment	3,739,808		3,651,464
Autos and trucks	84,830		77,865
Finance lease assets	5,710		5,710
Construction-in-progress	373,325		358,819
PP&E, gross	6,561,108		6,422,394
Accumulated depreciation	(3,563,813)		(3,481,548)
PP&E, net	$	2,997,295	$	2,940,846

The Company recognized depreciation expense of $90.0 million and $93.4 million during the three months ended March 26, 2023 and March 27, 2022, respectively.

During the three months ended March 26, 2023, Pilgrim’s spent $131.7 million on capital projects and transferred $117.8 million of completed projects from construction-in-progress to depreciable assets. During the three months ended March 27, 2022, the Company spent $81.6 million on capital projects and transferred $73.8 million of completed projects from construction-in-progress to depreciable assets.

During the three months ended March 26, 2023, the Company sold certain PP&E for $12.6 million in cash and recognized a net gain of $9.3 million on these sales. PP&E sold during the three months ended March 26, 2023 consisted of a farm in Mexico and other miscellaneous equipment. During the three months ended March 27, 2022, the Company sold miscellaneous equipment for cash of $0.8 million and recognized a net loss on these sales of $1.9 million.

The Company has closed or idled various facilities in the U.S. and in the U.K. The Board of Directors has not 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. As of March 26, 2023, the carrying amounts of these idled assets totaled $39.4 million based on depreciable value of $213.3 million and accumulated depreciation of $173.9 million. Idled asset values include those assets that are no longer in use as a result of the recent restructuring activities of our U.K. and Europe segment.

As of March 26, 2023, the Company assessed if events or changes in circumstances indicated that the asset group-level carrying amounts of its PP&E held for use might not be recoverable. There were no indicators present that required the Company to test the recoverability of the asset group-level carrying amounts of its PP&E held for use at that date.