FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE IN MEAT AND POULTRY MANUFACTURING AND WHOLESALING: AN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

The financial performance of meat and poultry manufacturing and wholesaling firms is examined for the period from 1970 to 1986. Measures of liquidity, solvency, profitability, cash generation, and efficiency reported in the Robert Morris Associates Annual Statement Studies are used to examine relative performance across the different industries. The results suggest a similar performance in the wholesaling and manufacturing industries across the period in terms of liquidity. Profitability levels are similar for meat and poultry firms, although the poultry firms show a higher level of variability across the period. It appears that poultry firms leveraged themselves relatively more than did meat firms during the period. In terms of cash generation and efficiency the meat manufacturing industry performs slightly better than the other industries.