Tyson Foods, Inc. has reported today that the capital restructuring it underwent in recent months secured more than $1.7 billion in liquidity as of March 28 and has ensured financial flexibility while addressing more than $1.8 billion in near-term debt maturities.

Speaking at the Barclays Capital Leveraged Finance Consumer Conference, Dennis Leatherby, Tyson's executive vice president and chief financial officer, said, "Tyson has a solid capital structure. We have strong liquidity and financial flexibility."

In September, Tyson began capital restructuring by issuing 22.4 million Class A Common Shares and $458 million in Senior Convertible Notes. In March, the company successfully completed an $810 million high yield bond offering and replaced its previous revolving credit facility with a $1 billion asset-based lending facility.

"Despite volatile commodity markets, we have been disciplined in reducing our debt load," Mr Leatherby said. "Our net debt at the end of our second quarter was $2.6 billion, compared to a high of nearly $5 billion in 2001."

Tyson has previously reported that its chicken, beef, pork and prepared foods segments are all profitable. Mr Leatherby said the chicken segment has made significant improvement as a result of sales volume, product mix, shorter-term contracts with customers and operational efficiencies. He also said Tyson's chicken business will have a stronger third quarter than indicated on its earnings call on 4 May.