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In the latest quarter, the Decatur agribusiness company had record net income of $1.05 billion, or $1.63 a share, from the year-ago $441 million, or 68 cents a share. Revenues, inflated in part by higher prices for the underlying commodities that ADM buys, processes and sells, surged to $21.16 billion from last year's $12.83 billion.
ADM's earnings got help from "last-in, first-out" accounting regarding its inventory of commodity products: in the latest quarter, the company recorded a $282 million LIFO gain, while in the year-ago quarter it experienced a negative LIFO adjustment of $51 million.
Excluding those accounting issues and certain other one-time factors, ADM noted, the company's underlying profit rose a more modest 51 percent to $755 million, or $1.17 a share, from the year-ago adjusted $501 million, or 77 cents a share.
The latest quarter's results, even after that adjustment, significantly topped the 69 cents a share that analysts had been anticipating for ADM.
In the company's corn-processing group, which among other things is the nation's biggest producer of the gasoline additive known as ethanol, the lush profits of a couple years ago continued to dwindle. Operating profits at the group sagged 53 percent to $118 million.
But at ADM's oil-seed crushing operation, operating profits jumped 144 percent to $510 million; the company noted that profits were helped by ADM's success in obtaining the commodities it crushes at favorable prices.
Wheat, cocoa and malt operations also saw a solid profit upturn, helping to offset a $51 million drop in operating earnings at ADM's finance business.
The company's merchandising and handling and transportation operations, which trades commodities worldwide and stores and transports grains, once again scored big profits with the help of its trading acumen: operating profits for the group climbed 87 percent to $428 million.
jpmiller@tribune.com
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