Quarterly earnings surge again at Cargill

By MATT McKINNEY, Star Tribune

Last update: January 14, 2008 - 9:08 PM

Profit for the second quarter was nearly $1 billion at Cargill, the Minnetonka-based agricultural giant, as capital investments helped the company move more commodities over longer distances, the company reported Monday. The earnings of $954 million for the quarter ended Nov. 30 were a 44 percent gain over the same quarter last year.

"We are very pleased with today's results," Greg Page, the Cargill chairman and chief executive who took over the company last June, said in a prepared statement. "Today we are moving bigger volumes of commodities, through more facilities, at higher utilization rates and over longer distances. As we've grown, we've also strengthened our ability to measure and assess risk. That's been crucial, given the speed and magnitude of price movements in today's agricultural and energy markets."

Earnings for the first six months of the company's fiscal year stand at $1.87 billion, a 61 percent increase from the previous year's first half.

Privately held Cargill does not release full financial results, but reported that four of its five business segments saw increased earnings in the second quarter, the largest from its origination and processing segment. The company's risk management and financial segment saw lower earnings.

The announcement included Cargill news from around the globe, from finalizing a sweetener conversion project in Manchester, England, to a new chocolate processing facility in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to a new joint venture with olive oil cooperative Hojiblanca in Spain to the news that Cargill started its fifth feed mill in Vietnam.

The company also launched a new website in the second quarter, CargillAg.com, with grain market information.

Cargill employs 158,000 people in 66 countries.

Matt McKinney • 612-673-7329

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