Dive Brief:
- Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) completed the purchase of corn wet mills in Bulgaria and Turkey and 50% of a wet mill in Hungary. The mills were purchased from Eaststarch C.V., ADM’s 50-50 joint venture with Tate & Lyle.
- The facilities have a combined daily grind capacity of approximately 200,000 bushels and mostly make sweeteners and starches.
- ADM also reported lower third-quarter profit on weak ethanol margins and falling North American grain exports. ADM is one of the world's largest corn-based ethanol manufacturers. Earnings in the company's corn processing unit fell 62% because of thin margins and high biofuel inventories. The company's net third-quarter profit was $252 million, down from $747 million last year.
Dive Insight:
"ADM shares are weak, reflecting the third quarter earnings miss as well as anticipation that fourth-quarter results will continue to be hampered by slow farmer selling, weak export demand for U.S. grain and lackluster ethanol profitability," Farha Aslam, a Stephens Inc. analyst, told Reuters.
Corn processing operating profit fell from $341 million to $165 million. Results for sweeteners and starches were down from $158 million to $125 million, while bioproducts results declined from $183 million to $40 million.
ADM also reported lower-than-expected earnings for the second quarter.