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GREELEY, Colo. (AP) -- Swift & Co. said Friday it has filled nearly 1,300 positions made open after immigration agents arrested workers at six plants, including one in northern Utah.
The meatpacking giant said the raids cost it as much as $50 million.
A Swift spokesman also said a strategic review to determine the company's future is continuing but no decision has been made.
Operations at Swift plants in Colorado, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Texas and Hyrum, Utah, were suspended for several hours on Dec. 12 while immigration agents arrested 1,217 workers. No company managers have been charged.
The staffing returned to full force in April at two pork-processing plants and this month at the beef plants, Chief Executive Officer Sam Rovit said.
The Greeley-based company initially estimated the financial impact of the raids at $30 million for the fiscal year ending May 27. It raised that estimate Friday to as much as $50 million, saying it has taken longer than expected to return the beef plants to full production, which caused higher costs and led to lost business.
In January, the privately owned Swift said it was looking at strategies, ranging from refinancing to a sale or initial public offering of stock. Executives said they had received unsolicited inquiries.
Swift's majority shareholder is HM Capital Partners LLC and its investment partner is Booth Creek Management Corp.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
