Bunge Q3 Adj. Profit Tops View, But Sales Miss; Cuts 2017 EBIT Outlook

(RTTNews) - Bunge Limited (BG) reported that its net income available to common shareholders for the third-quarter declined to $84 million or $0.59 per share from $116 million or $0.83 per share last year.

Adjusted net income per share from continuing operations grew to $0.75 from $0.73 in the previous year. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.73 per share. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Net sales for the quarter were flat with last year at $11.42 billion. Wall Street expected revenues of $11.98 billion.

Overall, the company expects sequential earnings improvement in the fourth quarter, which will provide positive momentum as it enters 2018. Agribusiness should benefit with the shift to Northern Hemisphere harvests where the large U.S. soy crop is supporting strong domestic crush margins and export flows. However, global oilseed crush and distribution margins continue to track below earlier expectations, and as a result, it reduced its full-year 2017 EBIT range to $425 million to $500 million.

The company also expects to meet or exceed the $15 million 2017 target set out in Competitiveness Program, which is expected to reduce overhead costs by $250 million by the end of 2019.