CHS Inc. 2Q earnings decline because of oil slump

Agricultural cooperative and energy company CHS Inc. reported net income of $92.8 million for the second quarter of its fiscal 2015 year, compared with $260.1 million for the same quarter of fiscal 2014.

Driving the decline were lower earnings within the company's energy businesses, officials said, especially lower petroleum refining margins and lower propane earnings.

Partly offsetting the weak energy performance were improvements in the CHS ag segment, which includes its grain marketing and fertilizer businesses, renewable fuels, local retail operations and soybean processing and food ingredients businesses. Earnings in that sector were $58 million for the quarter ended Feb. 28, compared with $38 million a year ago.

Ag segment strengths included higher wholesale fertilizer margins and improved local retail operations earnings, while renewable fuels earnings were flat and grain marketing earnings declined.

For the first six months of its fiscal year, CHS reported a 6 percent decrease in net income: $471.5 million compared with $502.3 million for the same period of fiscal 2014.

Revenue of $17.9 billion for the first half of fiscal 2015 were down 14 percent compared with $20.7 billion through the second quarter of fiscal 2014, the company reported, due mainly to lower average selling prices for the commodity energy, grain, fertilizer and processed grains that it handles.