
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 31, 1994                   TAG: 9403310031
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LON WAGNER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

WLR ISSUES PLEA

WLR Foods Inc. on Wednesday repeated its plea to shareholders to hold onto their stock, despite a $30-per-share tender offer. The offer, valued at $329 million, is from Tyson Foods Inc., which is trying a corporate takeover.

The statement from WLR Foods mirrored the Broadway, Va., company's urgings earlier this month and had some industry analysts wondering about the purpose of Wednesday's release.

"It really looked like a recap, a news release of something they sent out a week or so ago," said Mark Plummer, a Little Rock, Ark., analyst who follows Tyson's stock. "I'm kind of puzzled."

Tyson has made a tender offer of $30 per share for all outstanding shares of WLR common stock in its hostile takeover attempt. Tyson's offer will continue until April 8, unless the company extends it.

WLR again told its shareholders that the company is entering a growth period, and now is not the time to sell its stock.

Tyson, the Springdale, Ark., diversified food processor, hopes to add WLR's turkey-processing business to its lines, which already include chicken, pork, beef and seafood operations. Tyson reported sales of $4.71 billion, compared with WLR's sales of $616.7 million, for the fiscal year ended last September.

Tyson was not to be outdone in the public relations effort that surrounds its takeover attempt. Hours after WLR published its five-page statement, Tyson faxed out a release about Chairman Don Tyson's visit to a Tyson plant in Arkansas.

by CNB