News in brief

Tyson unit to focus on case-ready meats

Tyson Foods Inc.'s beef and pork business has formed a division to handle packaged, case-ready meats.

The new "Portioned Protein Innovations" team within Tyson Fresh Meats, a company subsidiary, was made to meet the steady growth seen in the market of value-added and case-ready products, the company said Wednesday.

The team is led by Nate Hodne, senior vice president of portioned proteins, and consists of sales and operations workers across the nation.

"The experts on this team have years of industry knowledge and experience to bring to our customers and now, with this new team, we have the capability to focus on this growing consumer demand," Hodne said in a news release. "We are excited about the top-notch customer service and the many innovative solutions that will come from the [new] team."

A number of company-owned processing plants produce case-ready products, including facilities in Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Tennessee and Texas. A new plant in Utah is scheduled to open in 2021.

-- Nathan Owens

Sorry, StarKist, says court; $100M owed

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge in San Francisco on Wednesday ordered StarKist Co. to pay a $100 million fine in a canned-tuna price-fixing conspiracy involving the industry's top three companies.

The Pittsburgh company also was sentenced to 13 months of probation.

The tuna giant had asked U.S. District Judge Edward Chen to reduce the fine to $50 million, arguing a $100 million penalty could bankrupt it because it still faces millions more in potential civil damages.

But Chen said the court found the company has the assets, the ability to borrow money to pay the fine and a legal recourse to ask for an extended payment schedule if it runs into financial trouble.

He ordered the company to pay $5 million within 30 days and $11 million next year. Starting in 2021, the company will have to make payments of $21 million each year for four years.

StarKist Co. last year agreed to plead guilty to a felony-price fixing charge as part of a broad collusion that included Bumble Bee Foods and Chicken of the Sea.

-- The Associated Press

Arkansas Index flat; ends day at 437.13

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, closed Wednesday at 437.13, up 0.15.

"Equities resumed their climb higher with the health care and information technology sectors outperforming the broader market as China exempted several products from additional tariffs and [President Donald Trump's] administration discussed a possible reduction in capital-gains taxes," said Leon Lants, managing director at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock.

The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.

Business on 09/12/2019

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