Tyson Foods Inc. announced Thursday that it is eliminating 450 positions throughout the company as it adjusts to this summer's AdvancePierre Foods acquisition.
Most of the eliminated jobs will come from the corporate offices in Springdale, Chicago and Cincinnati, according to a Thursday news release.
"We're grateful to everyone who has contributed to the company's success, and we're thankful for their time with Tyson Foods," said Tom Hayes, Tyson's president and chief executive officer, in a statement. "These are hard decisions, but I believe our customers and consumers will benefit from our more agile, responsive organization."
Two days before the close of Tyson's fiscal 2017, the nation's largest meat company increased this year's earnings guidance to an adjusted $5.20 to $5.30 a share, up from $4.95 to $5.05 a share.
Tyson cited better-than-expected earnings in its beef segment.
In addition, the Springdale company released an adjusted-earnings estimate for fiscal 2018 and anticipated cost savings for 2018-2020.
For fiscal 2018, Tyson Foods is projecting $5.70 to $5.85 earnings per share.
Through the AdvancePierre purchase, Tyson said it expects net savings of $200 million, $400 million and $600 million over fiscal 2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively.
The company said the projected savings will encompass three key areas in Tyson's prepared-food and chicken segments: supply chain, procurement and overhead.
Tyson plans to provide the official report of its fourth quarter and fiscal 2017 performances on Nov. 13.
According to Thursday's news release, the company couldn't disclose Generally Accepted Accounting Principle numbers because of "events outside of our control," including the potential sale of a nonprotein business, potential impairments of long-lived or intangible assets and additional modifications to Tyson's restructuring plan.
Tyson said it could not immediately provide accurate numbers because of uncertainty and potential adjustments "which could be significant."
Overall, Thursday's announcement is positive for investors, said Ken Shea, senior analyst of the food and beverage sector at Bloomberg.
Tyson's anticipated savings from AdvancePierre over the next few years "are pretty robust numbers," Shea said.
Shea said Tyson's elimination of 450 jobs wasn't shocking, citing potential redundancies from Hillshire Brands, AdvancePierre Foods and Tyson Foods employees.
"They alluded to cuts a while ago," he said.
Two weeks ago a Tyson Foods internal email was leaked to Talk Business & Politics that outlined several sales management departures and promotions.
This year Hayes announced two executive-level restructurings -- one in February and one in August -- that led to a handful of leaders and other employees throughout the company to resign.
"The company's delivering what it said it would make," Shea said. "Strategic acquisitions and the plan to be financially fit."
Hayes said in a statement Thursday that "we are a good partner for growth for our customers and are constantly challenging ourselves to identify opportunities to create value for our consumers, customers and shareholders."
Tyson Foods will host a conference call today with analysts at 8 a.m. to discuss Thursday's announcements. A live webcast will be available on the Tyson Foods Investor Relations website.
Tyson Foods had 114,000 employees on Oct. 1, 2016.
Tyson shares fell 73 cents, or 1 percent, to close Thursday at $65.45. Shares rose more than 5 percent in after-hours trading after the jobs announcement was released.
Business on 09/29/2017