Mar 1, 2004 12:00 PM

Hormel Foods Corp, the Austin MN-based marketer of consumer-branded meat and food products, has reported net earnings of $51.8 million for the fiscal first quarter ended Jan 24, 2004, up 10% from $46.9 million a year earlier. Earnings per share were $0.37 versus $0.34 in the fiscal 2003 first quarter. Sales totaled $1.1 billion, up from $1.0 billion in the same period a year earlier.

The company's Refrigerated Foods unit operating profit surged 178% in the fiscal first quarter, though volume was down 7% due to discontinuation of hog processing at Rochelle IL. First-quarter sales for the unit rose 8%.