Tyson Foods 4Q Sales Rise 4%

Tyson Foods, the biggest U.S. meat processor, reported better-than-expected quarterly sales, helped by strong demand for chicken products and as the Hillshire Brands acquisition boosted sales of prepared foods.

Tyson said sales and operating income in the chicken business, its second biggest, grew due to strong demand and lower feed ingredient costs.

The company bought Jimmy Dean sausage maker Hillshire Brands last year for $8.5 billion.

Net income attributable to Tyson rose to $258 million, or 63 cents per share, in the fourth quarter ended Oct. 3, from $137 million, or 35 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, it earned 83 cents per share.

Total sales rose 4 percent to $10.51 billion.

Analysts on average had expected revenue of $10.27 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles and Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Savio D'Souza)