Bunge Q4 profit falls on weak oilseed margins; 2025 outlook weakens

Bunge's agribusiness segment, which represents over 80% of its total revenue, saw adjusted core earnings decline to $364 million in the fourth quarter from $639 million a year earlier

Agricultural commodities trader Bunge Global posted lower than expected fourth-quarter profit on Wednesday as weak oilseed processing margins in key markets dragged down results in its core agribusiness segment. 

The company said its processing business would remain under pressure in 2025 due to weak margins and a challenging economic environment, with global trade tensions and biofuel policy uncertainty creating headwinds for crop traders. 

The struggles come as Bunge is working to close a deal to acquire grain handler Viterra, a merger that would create an agribusiness powerhouse closer in size to its peers Archer-Daniels-Midland and Cargill. Bunge said regulatory approvals for the deal were in the late stages. 

Bunge shares were down 4.3 per cent before the bell. 

The company has seen profits erode as a global glut of staple crops like soybeans and corn dragged prices to four-year lows last year, whittling down margins. 

ADM on Tuesday posted its lowest fourth-quarter profit in six years and said it was slashing costs and cutting jobs, joining Cargill in tightening its belt. 

Bunge's agribusiness segment, which represents over 80 per cent of its total revenue, saw adjusted core earnings decline to $364 million in the fourth quarter from $639 million a year earlier. 

Adjusted earnings in the processing sub-segment tumbled nearly 60 per cent due to lower soybean crushing results in North and South America and weak softseed markets in Europe. 

Bunge's refined and specialty oils unit's adjusted profit dropped 25 per cent due in part to US biofuel policy uncertainty. 

Bunge forecast adjusted earnings to be $7.75 per share in 2025, down from an adjusted annual profit of $9.19 per share in 2024 and missing analysts' expectations of $8.71. 

The Missouri-based company posted an adjusted profit of $2.13 per share in the quarter ended Dec. 31, down from $3.70 in the same period a year earlier and below the consensus analyst estimates of $2.24, according to data compiled by LSEG.