Tyson Foods Will Give Quarterly Dividend in September

Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale has declared a quarterly dividend of 4 cents per share on Class A common stock and about 4 cents per share on Class B common stock. The dividends are payable Sept. 15 to shareholders of record at the close of business on Sept. 1.

• Tyson Foods — the world’s largest processor and marketer of beef, chicken and pork — met Wall Street expectations with $65 million in second-quarter net income (or 18 cents a share). That figure was in sharp contrast to the same period last year when Tyson Foods had a loss of $6 million.

The acquisition of beef and pork packing giant IBP Inc. in September boosted Tyson’s sales to $5.84 billion for the fiscal second quarter, which ended March 30. Last year, Tyson had $1.86 billion in sales during the second quarter.

CEO John Tyson said he was “pleased with the performance of our company in this historically difficult quarter and with the progress we’ve made on the integration to date.”

Operating income was $179 million, up from $23 million in the same quarter last year.

Tyson Foods said it expects third-quarter diluted earnings per share in a range of 24 to 28 cents, and it backed its prior outlook for fiscal 2002 diluted earnings per share in a range of $1.10-$1.20.