Profile: Sanderson Farms Inc (SAFM.O)

Sanderson Farms, Inc. (Sanderson Farms), incorporated in 1955, is a fully integrated poultry processing company engaged in the production, processing, marketing and distribution of fresh and frozen chicken products. The Company sells ice pack, chill pack, bulk pack and frozen chicken, in whole, cut-up and boneless form, primarily under the Sanderson Farms brand name to retailers, distributors and casual dining operators principally in the southeastern, southwestern, northeastern and western United States, and to brokers who resell frozen chicken into export markets. During the fiscal year ended October 31, 2009 (fiscal 2009), Sanderson Farms processed 397 million chickens, or over 2.426 billion dressed pounds.

The Company’s chicken operations consist of seven hatcheries, six feed mills and eight processing plants. Sanderson Farms has contracts with operators of approximately 576 grow-out farms that provide it with housing capacity for its operations. It also has contracts with operators of 180 breeder farms. The Company’s prepared chicken product line includes approximately 75 institutional and consumer packaged partially cooked or marinated chicken items that it sells nationally and regionally, primarily to distributors and food service establishments. A majority of the prepared chicken items are made to the specifications of food service users.

The Company conducts its chicken operations through Sanderson Farms, Inc. (Production Division) and Sanderson Farms, Inc. (Processing Division), both of which are wholly owned subsidiaries of Sanderson Farms, Inc. The production subsidiary, Sanderson Farms, Inc. (Production Division), which has facilities in Laurel, Collins, Hazlehurst and McComb, Mississippi, Bryan, Waco, and Robertson County, Texas and Adel, Georgia, is engaged in the production of chickens to the broiler stage. Sanderson Farms, Inc. (Processing Division), which has facilities in Laurel, Collins, Hazlehurst and McComb, Mississippi, Hammond, Louisiana, Bryan and Waco, Texas and Moultrie, Georgia, is engaged in the processing, sale and distribution of chickens.

Sanderson Farms conducts its prepared chicken business through its wholly owned subsidiary, Sanderson Farms, Inc. (Foods Division), which has a facility in Jackson, Mississippi. The Foods Division is engaged in the processing, marketing and distribution of approximately 75 prepared chicken items, which it sells nationally and regionally, principally to distributors and national food service accounts.