The logo of global grain company Archer Daniels Midland is pictured in Decatur, Illinois March 16, 2015.REUTERS/Karl Plume
October 31, 2017
(Reuters) – U.S. agricultural trader Archer Daniels Midland Co on Tuesday reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly profit, hurt by poor margins in its agriservices and oilseeds businesses.
The company’s shares fell 2 percent in premarket trading.
Profit in its agricultural services unit, ADM’s biggest, more than halved to $87 million for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, falling well below $142 million estimated by JPMorgan analysts.
Its profit from oilseeds business fell 18 percent to $119 million.
A bumper grain and oilseeds harvest globally have squeezed profits for ADM and rivals Bunge Ltd, Cargill Inc [CARG.UL] and Louis Dreyfus Co [LOUDR.UL], collectively known as the ABCD quartet of global grain trading giants.
Net profit attributable to ADM fell to $192 million, or 34 cents a share, in the latest quarter from $341 million, or 58 cents a share, a year earlier.
Excluding items, ADM earned 45 cents per share, missing analysts’ estimates of 55 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Revenue fell to $14.83 billion from $15.83 billion.
(Reporting by Tom Polansek in Chicago and Ahmed Farhatha in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
