Monsanto Credits Brazil for 22% Jump in Profit
3 April 2013 
Monsanto’s quarterly profit climbed 22% on a record second season in Brazil and a soaring U.S. corn business. It expects to sell record corn seed volumes in 2013.
The company’s second-quarter earnings per share (EPS) was $2.74 on an as-reported basis, compared $2.24 in the same quarter last year.
Net sales for the quarter increased $724 million or 15% to $5.5 billion in the three-month comparison driven in part by 16% sales growth from its global corn business.
Monsanto’s agricultural productivity segment – comprising its crop protection products and lawn-and-garden herbicide products – posted net sales of $1.13 billion, up $302 million over the year-ago quarter, citing a favorable marketplace environment. It said it “remains focused on its established Roundup strategy.”
Sales in the seeds and genomics segment for the second quarter were $4.3 billion, an increase of $422 million over the same period last year.
The company raised its full-year EPS guidance on an as-reported basis to the range of $4.42 to $4.52 per share.
“The current and emerging opportunities in the company’s global soybean business complement the global corn business,” Monsanto stated. In the United States, it has seen strong order book and shipments year-to-date, positioning it deliver to the high end of its 39 million to 41 million acre target range for its GenuityRoundup Ready 2 Yield platform. “This performance comes as the company prepares to enter the next phase of innovation in its soybean platform, including the addition of both Roundup Ready 2 Xtendand Intacta RR2 PRO soybeans,” it added.
The company noted that new results from its second year of Intacta RR2 PRO Ground Breakers on-farm field trials in Brazil “have demonstrated a better than 4 bushel per acre yield advantage against first-generation Roundup Ready soybeans at more than 1,000 locations, double the number of locations from its 2012 Ground Breakers on-farm field trials in Brazil.”
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