NEW YORK, N.Y. — Favorable market conditions for protein are expected to continue for the remainder of fiscal 2010 and into fiscal 2011, Donnie Smith, Tyson Foods’ president and chief executive officer, told investors during the BMO Capital Markets 2010 Agriculture, Protein & Fertilizer Conference.

“We’ve posted strong results in the first half of our fiscal year, and we expect the second half to be even better,” Mr. Smith said. “The operating environment is good now, and we expect it to continue into next year.”


Mr. Smith said Tyson should perform well because of strong fundamentals and Tyson being a much better company. Tyson has significantly reduced its debt position and has improved its operations, he said. Tyson recently raised the normalized operating margin ranges for both its Beef and Pork segments following continued strong performance. The Prepared Foods segment’s performance has improved following structural changes in 2009.

Tyson’s Chicken segment continues to recover and is expected to be within its normalized operating margin range of 5%-7% for the year.

“We’re already seeing better results from our Chicken segment, and we’ve still got runway left for improvement,” Mr. Smith said. “We like the fundamentals, but we love our execution and focus.”