From Our Print Edition

In a May 8 conference call with securities analysts, Tyson Foods’ president/CEO Donnie King conceded that while second quarter operating income fell by $166 million, sales rose slightly and “we outperformed our large branded-food peers in volume and dollar sales and continue to gain pound and dollar share in our retail core business lines.” He said all the company’s core protein categories — beef, pork and chicken — were experiencing market challenges at the same time, as commodity and feed prices have soared. To add new business, the company has converted two of its plants from bone-in to boneless chicken. Tyson also closed two of its less productive chicken plants, but improved overall order fill rates by more than 20%. King said that the company’s core retail brands — Tyson, Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm and Ball Park — continue to outpace total food and beverage and its peers in both sales dollars and volume growth, up 13% and 7%, respectively, compared to a year ago.