Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN) To Close 3 Plants In Bid to Improve Efficiency of Packaged Foods Business

Shares of Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN) were drifting lower in Friday after-hours trade and the food conglomerate tonight saying in coming months it plans to discontinue operations at three facilities in Iowa, New Mexico and New York state, laying off nearly 1,000 workers.

Effective Sept. 27, TSN will close, the company will shutter its facility in Cherokee, Iowa, costing around 450 jobs, with plants in Buffalo, N.Y, and Santa Teresa, N.M., slated to shut down before the end of the year. The Buffalo facility now has around 300 employees while the Santa Teresa plant has about 200 workers.

Donnie King, president of the prepared foods segment at TSN, said all three of the facilities have been struggling financially, with the company concluding “it no longer makes business sense to keep them open.” The closings will allow TSN to shift some of the production and equipment to more cost-efficient facilities, he said.

TSN shares were down about 0.3% in late trade at $39.41 apiece, falling 13 cents a share. The stock fell during today’s regular session, declining 23 cents – or about 0.6% – to close at $39.54 a share.