Corporate Governance

In the area of corporate governance, regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley continue to present challenges, not just for us but for all public companies. The regulatory environment now requires companies to have well-defined, documented and measured controls in place for all parts of the business that might affect their results. Pilgrim's is making a major effort to live up to both the spirit and intent of these new regulations, and we have re-examined our entire corporate governance structure in the process.

Recent steps include establishing an internal committee of key business unit managers charged with bringing up potential issues so that executive leadership can take the appropriate action, and adding two new independent members to our company's board of directors during 2004.