Cargill reports net profit on special gains; revenue declines

By Karl Plume

REUTERS - Global commodity trader Cargill Inc on Wednesday said it turned in a quarterly net profit, boosted by special gains that offset poor results from trading and oilseed processing.

Revenue for the privately held company declined for the eighth straight quarter.

Minnesota-based Cargill reported net income of $15 million for the fourth quarter ended May 31, compared with a net loss of $51 million a year earlier. Revenue fell 5 percent to $27.1 billion.

Excluding items such as inventory adjustments and gains or losses from sales of assets, the company posted an operating loss of $19 million, compared with a year-earlier profit of $230 million.

Cargill's report was the latest in a series of disappointing financial statements from agriculture-focused companies.

Rival agribusiness Archer Daniels Midland Co last week reported a sharply lower quarterly profit due to volatile grain prices and weak trading and processing margins. Bunge Ltd, another Cargill rival, posted higher earnings but warned of near-term headwinds due to tightening margins.

After ample global crop supplies had limited trading opportunities for large grain companies earlier this year, a weather-related harvest shortfall in South America riled markets this summer and caught some traders wrong-footed.

Cargill is in the midst of a restructuring aimed at making itself more responsive to commodity market swings.

"We have more work to do," Chief Executive Officer David MacLennan said in a statement, "but where we have already made changes, we are seeing improved results."

In the past year, Cargill has spent $3 billion on acquisitions and expansions of existing facilities and divested nearly $2.4 billion in assets, the company said. It has realized more than $625 million from new products and services and from efficiency gains.

The food ingredients and applications unit, bolstered by the recent acquisition of ADM's global chocolate business, posted stronger results in the latest quarter, as did the animal nutrition and protein business.

But Cargill's origination and processing segment had a quarterly loss due to weak results for trading and oilseeds.

Industrial and financial services recorded a losing quarter, which Cargill blamed largely on a charge taken for counterparty risk in its ocean shipping business.

(Reporting by Karl Plume in Chicago; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)