ADM earnings hit by bad weather

Archer Daniels Midland Co.’s earnings slipped in the first three months of this year, battered by the weather and low margins.

The agribusiness giant reported net earnings of $267 million, or 40 cents a share, in the quarter ended March 31 compared with $269 million, or 41 cents a share, a year earlier. The company said it earned 55 cents per share after adjusting for one-time items.

Sales fell 4.6 percent to $20.7 billion in the first quarter from $21.7 billion in the year-ago period.

“Our businesses delivered mixed results in the first quarter,” ADM chairman and CEO Patricia Woertz said. “Our Ag Services business again generated weak results due to a low margin environment as well as logistics and weather challenges in the U.S. Continued strong performance in Corn was supported by

the robust ethanol market. And the sustained, solid results in Oilseeds were driven by good margins and volumes in North and South American soybean crushing.”

“We continued to make good progress during the quarter in our ongoing portfolio management and other key initiatives to improve the earnings power and returns of the company.”

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