Land O'Lakes Inc. on Thursday reported a strong second quarter with profits rising 63 percent, driven by the company's dairy foods operations.
The Arden Hills-based farmers cooperative posted net earnings of $76.9 million, up from $47.2 million in last year's second quarter. Land O'Lakes second-quarter sales tallied $3.9 billion, up 8 percent from a year ago.
Sales rose in all three of Land O'Lakes core businesses: dairy foods, animal feed and crop inputs, the latter of which includes pesticides and insecticides.
The profit increase was rooted in better results in dairy, which had been hurt in 2012 by falling milk prices. Also, earnings were driven by last year's acquisition of Kozy Shack refrigerated desserts and an investment in Eggland's Best, an egg producer.
"We are pleased with our midyear results, which were driven by our strategy of more aggressive investment in a variety of growth initiatives," Land O'Lakes CEO Chris Policinski said in a news release.
Mike Hughlett
