Tyson Foods discussed its financial statement for the first quarter of 2022 at the Consumer Analyst Group of New York conference on February 23.
Taking part in the presentation were Donnie King, president and CEO; Stewart Glendinning, executive vice president and chief financial officer; and other executives.
The company has seen an overall increase since the beginning of 2021 as sales increased from $10,460 million in the first quarter of 2021 to $12,933 million in the first quarter of 2022 – a 40% increase, and operating income increased from $705 million to $1,455 million – a 48% increase.
Poultry
Tyson also saw growth in its poultry segment with sales increasing from $2.381 billion in the first quarter of 2021 to $3.890 billion in the first quarter of 2022 – a 37% increase. Adjusted operating income also increased from $104 million in the first quarter of 2021 to $117 million in the first quarter of 2022.
“Chicken delivered adjusted operating income of $117 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2022 representing an operating margin of 3%. Operating income in the quarter was negatively impacted by $185 million of higher feed ingredient costs,” said Glendinning.
Tyson also highlighted various accomplishments made as part of its chicken segment recovery.
- A new Danville, Virginia, plant is under construction
- The hatch rate improvement is ahead of schedule, averaged 80.9% in December
- It is adding fully cooked capacity through line upgrades and new lines
“Chicken was a bright spot where we saw our volumes improve 3.6%. While this is a good start, we are not where we want to be on volumes. So, we’re taking actions segment by segment to improve our volume performance. These actions include investing in our team members, in additional capacity, and in brands and product innovation,” said King.
COVID-19
King also answered questions regarding the company's vaccine policy that requires almost all Tyson employees to be vaccinated – one of the largest workforces in the U.S. to do so. “We are strongly encouraging boosters and are hosting clinics to make it easier for our team members and their families to get boosted,” said King.
Avian influenza
When asked about the company’s response to the resurgence of highly pathogeniuc avian influenza (HPAI), David Bray, group president of poultry said, “the USDA has reported that this HPAI variant has only been found in the wild bird population, and it’s really been within the east coast of the United States.”
“We have very robust biosecurity measures in place across all of our facilities, and that includes testing every flock for avian influenza,” said Bray.
However, a Tyson flock in Kentucky was infected with avian influenza earlier this month.
