US-based food company Tyson Foods reported that its net income for the second quarter of fiscal 2012 increased 4% to $166m, compared to $159m the previous year, as weak performance of its beef business was offset by strong growth across its other businesses.
Sales increased 3% to $8.3bn, compared to $8bn the previous year.
The company, which sells beef, pork, chicken and prepared foods, implemented higher pricing actions to overcome feed prices and maintain profit margins, which led to 4.3% decline in sales volumes.
Tyson's president and chief executive officer Donnie Smith said the chicken, pork and prepared foods divisions all were in or above their normalised operating margin ranges, while beef essentially broke even despite difficult market conditions.
"We're positioned for another great year as we expect to gain momentum in our third and fourth quarters," Smith added.
The beef segment, the company's largest contributor of revenue, posted an operating loss of $1m, and 10.7% decline in sales volume to $3.37bn, as a controversy over a ground beef filler, which was dubbed as as pink slime by critics, affected the demand for beef and ground beef.
The chicken segment reported an operating income of $145m, up from $37m the previous year, and 1.6% increase in sales volume to $2.9bn.
The pork division's operating income totalled $115m, down from $146m in the previous year, while its sales volume declined marginally 0.1% to $1.37bn.
The prepared foods segments reported an operating income of $44m, up from $31m in the previous year, and 1.2% increase in sales volume to $807m.
In fiscal 2012, the company noted that it expects the domestic production of chicken, beef, pork and turkey to decline by 2% to 3%, compared to the previous year, which should help improved pricing, and it stood by its full-year forecast of earnings per share of $2.
