Strong domestic and foreign demand for beef drove revenue and profit growth at Tyson Foods Inc. Tyson, the largest U.S. meat company by sales, said the pork market also helped results as a price increase offset a volume decline in the company’s fourth quarter, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Tyson Foods said it now expects sales to increase 7 percent in its fiscal 2018, which began in October, to about $41 billion, helped by a recent acquisition and higher chicken prices. That mark is higher than the $40.4 billion analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected. Shares rose 3 percent in premarket trading.
Tyson has been working to invest the extra profits from pork and beef into driving changes at the company. Restructuring costs totaled $150 million in the quarter. Tyson has also been working to sell three businesses, such as its Sara Lee Frozen Bakery, as it doubles-down on protein-related business units.
Tyson also plans to trim its debt load and cut hundreds of millions in expenses, including $200 million in 2018 and $400 million in 2019. On Monday, Tyson said it would resume share buybacks once it reaches its debt targets, expected in the third quarter of the year. The company also said it was increasing its quarterly dividend to 30 cents from 22.5 cents for its Class A shares.
For the fourth quarter, Tyson reported a profit of $394 million, or $1.07 a share, up from $391 million, or $1.03, a year earlier. The number of shares outstanding fell 3.2 percent, boosting per-share earnings. Excluding items such as the purchase of AdvancePierre Foods and restructuring charges, earnings rose to $1.43 a share. Revenue rose 11 percent to $10.15 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast earnings of $1.38 a share on $9.89 billion in revenue.
