In an April 24th release, Bunge Limited (BG) posted financial results for the 1st quarter of Fiscal 2024. This Company can be regarded as a bellwether for ‘Mega-Ag’ and the commodities sector. Along with competitors ADM, Cargill, Cofco and Dreyfus, all are subject to the risks of currency fluctuation, geopolitical events, climatic extremes, and increased cost of ingredients, labor and transport in a competitive world environment still restrained by COVID and conflict in the Ukraine.
For the 1st Quarter of FY 2024 ending March 31st, net income was $344 million on total revenue of $13,417 million. Comparable figures for the 1st quarter of fiscal 2023 ending March 31st were net income of $632 million on total revenue of $15,328 million. Diluted EPS fell from $4.29 for the 1st quarter of fiscal 2023 to $1.68 for the most recent quarter. Revenue was down 12.5 percent from Q1 2023. Gross margin declined from 7.7 to 6.5 percent and operating margin fell from 5.4 to 3.3 percent for the most recent quarter compared to Q1 FY 2023.
The Agribusiness segment generated sales of $9,740 million with an EBIT contribution of $454 million; Oils and Refining with revenue of $3,240 and a EBIT contribution of $359 million; Milling revenue of $381 million with EBIT contribution of $60 million.
In commenting on results Greg Heckman, CEO, commented “We are pleased with our first quarter results, which reflect our team’s strong execution in a more balanced market environment. During the quarter we invested further in our pipeline of growth projects and made excellent progress on integration planning for our announced combination with Viterra.”
“While we are off to a strong start, we continue to have limited visibility into the back half of the year. However, we are confident in our team’s ability to stay agile and capture opportunities ahead of us as we remain focused on delivering on our mission of connecting farmers to consumers to deliver essential food, feed and fuel to the world.”
Bunge projected FY 2024 adjusted EPS at $9.00 based on stated headwinds and segment performance.
On March 31st 2024, Bunge posted assets of $25,821 million, against long-term debt and other obligations of $5,863 million. The Company had an intraday market capitalization of $14,550 million on April 29th. BG trades with a forward P/E of 11.3 and has ranged over a 52-week period from $80.11 to $116.59 with a 50-day moving average of $103.18. Twelve-month trailing operating margin was 3.7 percent and profit margin 3.2 percent. Return on assets over the past twelve months was 7.0 percent and the return on equity 17.4 percent.