LITTLE ROCK — Tyson Foods said Monday that profits were up more than 90 percent in the fourth quarter.
The Springdale-based food processing giant said in a report that net income attributable to Tyson in the fourth quarter was $185 million, up 91 percent from $97 million last year. Adjusted earnings per share for the latest quarter were 55 cents compared with 26 cents last year.
"Our earnings for the fourth quarter and fiscal year indicate that Tyson Foods is rising above the noise of commodity markets to produce solid, more consistent results," Donnie Smith, Tyson's president and chief executive officer, said in a statement. "It has taken us several years and a lot of work to get to this point, and although there is much more to be done, I believe we have reached a new level of sustainable performance."
Tyson said its overall fourth-quarter operating margin was 4 percent and noted it repurchased $3.2 million shares for $50 million in the period.
For the fiscal year, Tyson said it had record sales and reported a slight increase in earnings per share, rising from $1.89 last year to $1.91 this year.
Smith called the year the company's "best effort to date."
"Our team members didn't make excuses; they made a difference, and they made money," he said in the statement. "... Our accomplishments, reinvestment in our business and record sales in fiscal 2012 were achieved in difficult market conditions. Fiscal 2013 is likely to be equally if not more difficult, but there will always be challenging circumstances in this business. It's our job to accelerate growth by focusing on innovation, serving our customers and developing our team members, whatever the market conditions may be."
The company has set a conference call on its results for 8 a.m. Those interested may listen to the live webcast by visiting http://ir.tyson.com or by calling (888) 455-8283, the company said. The pass code "Tyson Foods" is required to join the live call.
The webcast will be archived for one year at http://ir.tyson.com, and a telephone replay will be available until Dec. 21 by calling (800) 238-0581. Replays are generally available one hour after the call ends and no pass code is required, the company said.
Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.