Bunge Reports Q4 Profit
NEW YORK - Feb 13/14 - SNS -- Bunge Limited reported net income of U.S. $138 million on sales of $16,375 million for the fourth quarter ending December 31, compared to a net loss of $599 on sales of $17,040 million during the same three-month period the previous year. The previous year's loss included a charge of $309 million against discontinued operations.
This lifted the fiscal years net earnings to $306 million on sales of $61,347 million, compared to a net of $64 million on sales of $60,991 million for the previous fiscal year.
Soren Schroder, Bunge's Chief Executive Officer stated, "Agribusiness and food and ingredients finished the year on a strong note. On a combined, full-year basis, agribusiness, edible oils and milling segments generated record results of approximately $1.3 billion in EBIT and returns above cost of capital.
"Our agribusiness team effectively managed risks as markets transitioned from extreme tightness to emerging surpluses, while capitalizing on strong oilseed processing margins in the Northern Hemisphere and navigating unpredictable farmer selling patterns. Food and ingredients achieved record quarter and full-year results with all regions reporting higher year-over-year annual earnings.
"Our sugar and ethanol trading and merchandising operations performed well in the quarter and full year; however, our Brazilian sugarcane milling operations continued to be impacted by depressed global sugar prices, low sucrose cane content (ATR) and capped ethanol prices in Brazil," Schroder said.
"Lower commodity prices are spurring growth in demand and trade. Soybean crops in South America are on track to set another record level of production. Similar to last year, this will put a premium on logistics expertise and assets, which fits our capabilities well. We expect our food and ingredients segment to extract even greater value from the downstream chains, and we will have incremental contribution from our acquisition of Grupo Altex's wheat mills in Mexico, which we completed at the end of 2013."
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