Tyson Foods reports 4Q loss on charge in beef business, but overall sales edge up

Tyson Foods posts 4Q loss on charge, sales edge up

MILWAUKEE — Tyson Foods Inc. said Monday a hefty impairment charge in its beef business left it with a loss for the fourth quarter, but said its sales rose and its chicken business was profitable for the second straight quarter.

The world’s largest meat producer, based in Springdale, Ark., said it expects an improving economy will lead to better demand next year for not only chicken, but beef and pork products as well.

Consumers have been watching their money tightly in the recession, eating less expensive food and limiting trips out to restaurants, which has been hurting Tyson’s business. But the industry overall is improving on falling commodity costs and production cuts, which help bolster prices.

For the quarter, all the company’s units were profitable, when excluding a one-time $560 million goodwill charge in the beef segment. The company said higher credit costs, due to tight credit markets worldwide, made them lower the future value of the segment.

For the three months ending Oct. 3, Tyson lost $455 million, or $1.22 per share. That compares with a profit of $48 million, or 13 cents per share, a year ago.

Excluding the impairment charge of $1.50 per share, earnings were 28 cents per share.

Sales rose slightly to $7.21 billion from $7.2 billion, with chicken sales up 11 percent to $2.64 billion from $2.38 billion.

Excluding the charge, Tyson’s performance beat the expectations of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, who forecast a profit of 26 cents per share on revenue of $6.88 billion.

Shares of Tyson gained 11 cents to $13.18 in morning trading Monday.

Tyson anticipates better chicken prices in 2010 on lower cold storage inventories and expects grain prices to fall.

Raw material costs are predicted to climb for the prepared foods segment, but Tyson said it has shifted its sales contracts away from fixed pricing, which will help absorb the increasing costs.

“We have our beef, pork and prepared business where they should be, and we’re on our way to getting our chicken business there, too,” Donnie Smith, who was promoted to Chief Executive officer last week, told analysts on a conference call Monday.

The company’s chicken business had been hurt the most in the downturn, and last January it tapped former CEO Leland Tollett to restore the segment to growth. He was replaced last week by Smith, Tyson’s senior group vice president of poultry and prepared foods, a sign that the company thinks its chicken business has improved.

For the year, Tyson reported a loss of $537 million, or $1.44 per share, compared with a profit of $86 million, or 24 cents per share, the year before.

Adjusted earnings were 6 cents per share after removing the impairment charge.

Annual sales dipped 1 percent to $26.7 billion from $26.86 billion.

There was one more week in fiscal 2009 than the previous year.

AP Business Writer Michelle Chapman contributed to this report from New York.