Grocery Products operating profit was up by 12 per cent and volume up was up by six per cent with sales up by 10 per cent.

Refrigerated Foods operating profit was down by 22 per cent and volume was down by one per cent while sales rose by one per cent.

Jennie-O Turkey Store operating profit went up by 16 per cent while volume was down by two per cent but sales were up by six per cent.

Specialty Foods operating profit rose by eight per cent and volume was up by one per cent and sales rose by 11 per cent.

All Other sectors, primarily Hormel Foods International, saw operating profit up by 38 per cent with volume up by four per cent and sales up by seven per cent.

The company reported fiscal 2012 fourth quarter net earnings of $132.6 million, up 13 per cent from earnings of $117.3 million a year earlier. Diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $0.49, up 14 per cent compared to $0.43 last year. Sales for the quarter were $2.2 billion, up three per cent from the same period in fiscal 2011.

For the year ended 28 October, net earnings were $500.1 million, up five per cent from net earnings of $474.2 million last year. Diluted net earnings per share were $1.86, up seven per cent from diluted net earnings per share of $1.74 last year.

“We achieved solid results in the quarter with earnings per share and sales up 14 per cent and three per cent, respectively. We are pleased to have generated both segment profit and sales increases in four out of five segments. We continue to enjoy sales and volume growth in many of our value-added franchises, demonstrating that our growth strategies are working,” said Jeffrey M. Ettinger, chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer.

"In looking at the full year, we finished in the upper half of our guidance range. We delivered sales growth of four per cent, ending the year at a record $8.2 billion, with all five segments registering increases. We also grew earnings per share by seven per cent, finishing at record earnings of $1.86 per share.

"We enjoyed another strong performance by our Jennie-O Turkey Store and International teams.

"Our Grocery Products and Specialty Foods segments also generated nice profit increases for the year.

"We enhanced our support of our key HORMEL and JENNIE-O TURKEY STORE brands in fiscal 2012 with effective advertising campaigns, and ran a new advertising campaign celebrating the 75th anniversary of our iconic SPAM brand. Finally, we met our goal of $2 billion in sales of new products by 2012," added Mr Ettinger.

"We expect to deliver sales and earnings growth in fiscal 2013. In particular, we are looking for our Refrigerated Foods, Grocery Products, Specialty Foods and All Other (International) segments to drive profit growth in fiscal 2013, as our Jennie-O Turkey Store segment goes up against higher grain costs and historically high results.

"We plan on making additional cuts to both our turkey and pork harvest levels during fiscal 2013, to reduce our exposure to volatile commodity markets.

"Taking all of the relevant factors into account, we are setting our 2013 guidance range at $1.90 to $2.00 per share," Mr Ettinger said.