United States-National Beef re-group after rejection of sale to JBS-Swift.

UNITED STATES-IMPROVEMENT AT BEEF GIANT.

U.S. Premium Beef, parent company of National Beef Packing Co. LLC, saw much better financial performance in its second fiscal quarter of 2009 (ended Feb. 28), compared with a year ago, the company announced.

For the period, USPB recorded net income of $31.4 million, compared with a net loss of $7.6 million for the same period a year earlier. USPB did not report sales figures.

For the year-to-date period, the company posted net income of $28.2 million, compared with a net loss of $21.3 million for the first half of fiscal 2008.

"Our company’s net sales were higher in the year-to-date period than those of the prior year period, primarily due to a relatively small increase in the average sales prices per head, which was partially offset by fewer cattle being processed in the current year," CEO Steve Hunt said in a news release.

"A relatively stable demand for beef products allowed the sales prices to cover the cost of the live cattle that we processed during the first half of the fiscal year," he added.