Tyson Foods, one of the world’s largest food manufacturers, has suspended CFO John R. Tyson after he was arrested for a second time in two years.
The US meat giant acted after Mr Tyson was held for an alleged offence of driving while intoxicated.
In November 2022, he was arrested after being found asleep in a stranger’s house. He plead guilty to the charges.
Tyson Foods, in response to the latest incident, issued a brief statement. It read: “We are aware that John Randal Tyson, chief financial officer of Tyson Foods, was arrested for an alleged DWI. Tyson Foods has suspended Mr. Tyson from his duties effective immediately and named Curt Calaway as interim chief financial officer.”
Shares in the Hillshire Farm and Jimmy Dean owner stood at $53.76 at 15:12 GMT, down 1.77% on the day.
Mr Tyson, the son of the company’s chairman and great-grandson of its founder, joined the business in 2019. His appointment to the position of CFO was announced in September, two months before his first arrest.
Calaway has spent 18 years at Tyson Foods, working in a series of finance roles. Since June 2022, Calaway has been the company’s senior vice president for finance, corporate development and treasurer.
In the year to 30 September 2023, Tyson Foods ran up a $649m loss, compared to a $3.25bn profit the year previous. It booked an operating loss of $395m, against an operating income of $4.41bn a year earlier.
The group posted an "adjusted" operating income of $933m, down 79% against he previous 12 months.
Sales stood at $52.88bn, down 0.8% on the year.
Tyson Foods' most recent set of results was published last month. The company raised its guidance for adjusted operating income on the basis of an improving outlook for the chicken segment of its protein portfolio.
The group upped its outlook for adjusted operating income for chicken to $700-900m, from the $500-700m provided at the first-quarter results announcement in February.
That boosted the group adjusted operating income guidance for fiscal 2024 to a range of $1.4-1.8bn, compared to $1-1.5bn previously. The non-GAAP measure rose 58% in the first half to $817m.
Overall group sales are, however, still expected to be flat over the course of fiscal 2024 compared to the $52.8bn for the previous 12 months. They were static at $26.3bn in the first half and were down 0.5% in the second quarter at $13.1bn.
